A Second Chance Is a OnceInALifetime Thing
by mochachocoholik
Summary: JAVA JUNKIE!AUIt's 1998, Lorelai Gilmore's28 years old, a wellknown lawyer, a divorcée well, almost, mother and coffee devotee together these add up to a busy fulltime job. What happens when she goes to ConnecticutStars Hollow?
1. Chapter 1

**I'm back with my second fic! And what a better name for it than...well, just read it above, will you? **

**Since I'm on vay-cay, big relief sigh, I'm back on the writing business...I hope ya'll like it!**

**What you need to know for this fic:**

**- It's 1998, I'm trying to use only realistic references due to the time, I've done some research...**

**- Lorelai and Christopher are married, don't worry...I don't like him either...**

**- Rory is only 4.**

**- Lorelai is a lawyer, graduated from UCLA.**

**I think that's all...as the fic runs I'll add more info...**

**Any questions feel completely free to ask!! Your doubt, other people's doubt so...**

**Last but not at all least:**

**give a shout out to the perfectness of my beta duo:**

**MrsDionysiousOGall**

**OzDust**

**A Second Chance Is a Once-In-A-Lifetime Thing**

**Uneventful flight and lost with coffee in the end of the world.**

It was 1998, a year she certainly wouldn't forget.

Nope, it was too eventful for that to happen, because that was the year that she finally found herself, the year when she found out the meaning of life--nope, not the _Monty Python_ film...And she found it in the most uneventful place and with the craziest people; way too paradoxical...

Well, go figure...

But a number of unbelievable events unveiled themselves, and before I tell you the end of this story, there was the beginning of it all...

It all started with a phone call, as many stories do, though this particular call had been dreaded for quite some time now...It was the day that _The_ boss called her. It was a good call, professionally speaking; she would have been very happy about it if it wasn't for the little girl she was responsible for, her four-year-old daughter: Rory.

Lorelai Gilmore was 28 years old, a well-known lawyer, a divorcée (well, almost), mother and coffee devotee; together these added up to a busy full-time job. Throughout the years, she had become quite the professional and could handle the predicaments of life gracefully but, and here comes the reason why dreaded describes the _dreaded_ phone call, she had managed to participate actively in her law firm without traveling too far or staying away for long periods far from her family. Now her boss had made it very clear that she had no choice about the traveling; she would have to do a little field research for the firm and for that she would have to travel to the opposite side of the country, the East Coast. And, as if she hadn't been unlucky enough, she would have to leave sunny homey Cali to go back to the place that held all her childhood traumas and the ones responsible for it; she was going to Hartford, Connecticut.

She liked to think that she was ok with going away (oh-so-far-away!) from her kid; that it was safe to leave her in Chris's care and that they would both survive the separation, but the truth was that she was not ok with it.

In fact, she was trying to hide her panic while she reviewed Rory's daycare schedule for the thousandth time with Chris.

"Lore, would you calm down?" He rested his hands on each of her shoulders to calm her. "I already know Rory's schedule by heart. And, even if I forget..." He was almost interrupted by a frantic Lorelai but managed to be faster. "Which won't happen, but if for some reason, I do, there's still all the copies that you strategically left around the house, in my wallet, on the fridge...even my secretary knows what time I have to pick Rory up!"

"Maybe..._maybe_ I overreacted a little..." She smiled, embarrassed; of course Chris would know how to look after his own daughter...

"Where did you ever get that impression?" he sarcastically asked. "Everything will be fine; you don't have to worry about a thing!"

Lorelai looked questionably at him.

"I pinky swear!" Chris offered her his pinky.

"Oh, NOW it's serious. I mean, if you _pinky_ swear!" She mocked him, but still accepted his pinky, and a pinky-pledge was made; the deal officially closed.

Lorelai started to subconsciously collect some of Rory's toys, which were spread out in the living room, a natural nervous reaction. She was ready to leave on her business trip, but she didn't seem to ever leave...

Suddenly the powerful realization hit her, that she would be away from her baby for three whole weeks, and she just had to sit down on the couch.

"Do you want me to take you to the airport?" Chris asked with concern, sitting next to her. "I could take you, you know? And this way you could say goodbye to Ror at the airport instead of...now..."

"Nah...I think it's better this way...I don't wanna have an emotional meltdown in the middle of LAX..." She smiled weakly. "I'd better say _adieu_ to mini me..."

She stood from the couch and walked towards Rory's room, and knocked on the door that was quickly opened. A miniature version of Lorelai threw herself into her mother's arms.

"Mommy!" Rory yelled, exasperated.

"What happened, hun?"

"You're leaving..." she whined, "Who's taking me to Jenny's house, now?"

Jenny was Rory's best friend from kindergarten.

"Daddy can take you..." Lorelai tried to make the four-year-old understand that she wasn't being abandoned. "And mommy will be back before you know it."

"Like when you leave for Booba's?" Rory questioned her mom, those crystal-blue eyes shinning curiously.

Lorelai had to smile at her little girl; Booba was what Rory called her work place.

Like any four-year-old, Rory was in a world of her own, full of secrets and incredible personalities; each day she would 'be' a different person. Today she was happy being Ariel, the Little Mermaid.

She had on her mermaid costume and held Colonel Cluckers tightly; it wasn't easy for a stuffed 'chicken' to live underwater…

"Maybe a little longer than when I go to Booba's…" Lorelai answered Rory; she couldn't lie to her other half.

Rory simultaneously furrowed her brows.

"Longer…" the little mermaid said in an unhappy tone.

"Yeah, about three weeks…" Lorelai had to tell her the truth, even though Rory was too young to have a real perception of time.

"Three?" Rory asked, showing three little chubby fingers to her mom, proud that she knew the number.

Lorelai nodded affirmatively and smiled proudly at her little angel.

"Mommy, but I'm four." She adjusted her hand so that she was now showing four little fingers.

"Yeah, you're right…three weeks is nothing…besides, I know that my big girl is gonna behave, right?" Lorelai kneeled in front of her baby girl.

Rory quickly nodded her head.

"I'll be a good girl, mommy!" she exclaimed excitedly.

Lorelai had to hug her, lifting her in the air while the little girl giggled. "I love you."

"I love you too!" And she kissed her mom on the cheek.

Lorelai looked at her watch and was surprised at how fast the time had passed; it was already time to leave.

She put Rory back on the floor and hugged her some more, "Mommy has to go now..."

She gave her a final kiss and stood to leave.

But Rory seemed to finally realize the meaning of 'departure', for now her facial expression became saddened and tears started to roll freely down her pink cheeks.

Her arms stretched out in front of her and she ran after Lorelai's departing silhouette. "Mom...mmy!"

She sniffed as tears continued to fall; she used Colonel Clucker's wing to wipe her runny nose.

"Aww, hon..." Lorelai gathered her precious treasure in her arms; that only resulted in the worsening of Rory's frantic sobs.

"Don't leave...mommy..." Rory said whiningly then locked her arms around Lorelai's neck.

Lorelai looked at her watch _again_, she had to go.

She moved to the living room while soothing her baby. "I'm coming back...I would never leave you, kiddo..."

She grabbed a handkerchief from her purse and wiped Rory's nose, then kissed her cheek sweetly.

"Did you know that princesses, like yourself, don't cry when their mommies travel?"

That seemed to seize Rory's attention.

"Really?" she asked, still not fully recovered from her crying-fit.

"Yeah, especially Ariel; she's the bravest of all the princesses!"

"I'm Ariel today, mommy!" Rory reported, excited again.

"Really?" Lorelai acted surprised.

Rory only nodded affirmatively.

"See, so you don't have to cry." Lorelai gently stroked her tears away. That seemed to calm the little girl; she gave her one more kiss and was about to step out of the house when she heard Chris's voice:

"Lore!" she turned around. "Could you think about...it?"

He didn't want to say it, but she knew what he was talking about.

He had told her that he didn't want a divorce, that he still loved her and wanted a complete and happy family.

She had already thought about it.

It had been an easy decision to make; it had been very clear, to her at least, that they had no future... They had had a beautiful past but...some things just have to end some day.

Don't get her wrong when she says it was an easy decision to make; she hadn't been thoughtless or mad, it was just the sudden knowledge that seemed to have rested in the back of her mind and never left. Divorce just felt like the next natural step after that.

"I'll think about it," she told him.

And she smiled because he smiled.

Some things just have to end someday.

"Bye!" She left before Rory had time to react; she hated to leave like that.

She got into her car and arrived at LAX in a flash; it even made her question if she had been teleporting. But the truth was that time seemed to fly because she couldn't stop thinking about Rory; she missed her already. It had only been an hour and she already missed her dearly, how would she ever survive three weeks?

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Her flight was uneventful, and that was a good thing because who wanted an eventful flight, right?

Who would want to have a plane crash and end up on a weird, lost island? Well, not her, for sure.

She hadn't been able to sleep at all on the flight, so she just stared at her reflection in the window, observing the heavenly set-up of fluffy clouds surrounding her.

As soon as she left the plane, the wintry Connecticut weather welcomed her; that was one of the few things she missed about this place: how a person could feel the four seasons change throughout the year. She had not felt that nice chilly wind since she ran away to California, just her and Chris, in what seemed a lifetime ago.

The young couple had, after much careful planning and dreaming, finally run away on prom night to a place they judged perfect for their future lives: California. And the reason they had picked that particular state out of the other 49 available was because of the totally opposite characteristics it had compared to their previous home, that and the obvious physical distance...

Lorelai took a deep breath, coming back from her trip down Memory Lane, and prepared herself for the task ahead of her, both professionally and emotionally...

She got her luggage and moved to the car rental kiosk, where her car keys were already waiting for her.

She left the airport and sped to the Hartford area; she had to check into her hotel and start work.

The sooner she started working, the sooner she would go back home...

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Lorelai had been in Connecticut for a week now and was not even close to finishing her field research...

One of the firm's top clients had decided that he was going to sue a little Connecticut inn because he had received poor service during his **three**-day stay there.

The field research consisted in finding out the true accuracy of the lawsuit that this important client was considering. Especially since he had a tendency of suing everyone he met; in fact, rumor was that a good part of his personal fortune was a direct result from all his lawsuits…

Therefore, she was staying at said Inn. She hadn't been mistreated yet; of course, there was that really moody guy at the front desk, but he was French, so…

She called Rory every night and so far, she seemed to be the one most desperate to go home. Who would have ever guessed that her four-year-old kid would handle separation better than her own mature, older self?

She wasn't complaining...far from it. Though she had to admit that she felt a little neglected by the fact that her daughter handled it so well: it made her feel a little...unwanted. She knew that that was a stupid assumption but she couldn't help it if she felt that way...

It was now eight o'clock on--for a change--a chilly morning. The cool Connecticut weather had already lost its charm and it was beginning to annoy her, especially in the mornings...

She had been dressed for a few minutes but had returned to the warmness of bed as soon as she realized that her fancy new corporate suit wouldn't keep her warm enough. She would never admit it out loud but she had become a 'California-girl'; she wasn't taking the cold too well…she used to always brag to her beach-y friends that they wouldn't know real cold until they moved to a northern state. And now, she was being a chicken and hiding under the covers.

After gathering some courage, she was ready to face the cold; the firm had conveniently asked her to represent them at a meeting in the area, and since she was bored to the nines, she was glad to do so.

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She was usually good with new places, maps, etc…she normally never got lost, but today, apparently, was a different day.

Lorelai had been lost for almost an hour and although she knew she couldn't be too far away from the Inn, she didn't seem to find herself either…

And whenever she thought she wasn't lost anymore, she saw that damn sign again… She tried to blame it on the mocha rented Jeep, but deep inside she knew it was her own fault.

Finally, after going around in circles for some time, she decided to try her luck and turned right into a secondary road.

It was getting dark and the road, that was completely surrounded with tall trees, which, she was sure a very pretty sight during the day, became quite scary now…Suddenly, horror movie flashbacks flooded her mind and she found herself looking for an old man carrying a chainsaw…She had to convince herself that this was not Texas and that people in Connecticut were much too cold to leave their homes and murder passers-by.

It was then that she saw a lighted, blue sign reading "Welcome to Stars Hollow". Maybe someone could give her directions, maybe they had restaurants; she would kill for a burger and a gallon of good coffee…

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There wasn't much to this Stars Hollow town, a few right turns and you'd've seen it all…

But she had to admit that it had a certain charm about it…it was cute and fluffy…and adorable and…she arrived at the town square and saw the sign 'Luke's' hanging from a…diner!

_There's food in this town after all! _That thought invigorated her.

And if there was food, it was bound to have some nice people that could help her with directions, right?

The minute she stepped out of the Jeep, the balmy breeze reminded her that, yet again, she wasn't dressed appropriately…she would have to go shopping…too bad she hated shopping, wasn't it?

After she read 'coffee' on the little diner's window, she ran towards it. Coffee seemed like an excellent reason to run…

People curiously watched the new stranger speed up to Luke's, while all sorts of rumors were being created about her.

Lorelai was a little surprised by the noise from the bell on the door as she walked in: how corny was that? Didn't these people know that they had an electronic version of those? But then she looked around the little corner diner; it was totally different from anything in California. She didn't know, however, that the 50s were back…and it matched the green truck parked in front perfectly! 

Her Cali friends would go crazy in a place like this; none of the chairs or tables matched, there were no curtains and…at least there was a small flower vase on each table…and the colors! They probably weren't aware that trendy coffee shops were supposed to follow the 'clean' style, but then again…there was nothing trendy about this place.

She decided she would sit at a table near the window; she liked to observe the people walking by.

A man approached her holding a small notebook and pen and asked, "Ready to order?"

"Sorry?" Lorelai had been roused out of her daze.

"Your order…" the man answered impatiently, like it was a very hard task to repeat himself to the new costumer.

"Oh…I'm sorry, I haven't looked at the menu yet…" She offered him a friendly smile as she reached for the menu that rested on top of her table.

The man turned without saying a word.

It was the first time in Lorelai's life that a man hadn't tried to be nice to her…that intrigued her…

"Hey!" she called to his retreating form; he slightly turned his head.

There was a second of uncomfortable silence; Lorelai hadn't quite thought of what she was going to say once he turned.

"Yeah?" he asked, indicating that he was still waiting for her to say something. Seriously, this city had the ability to produce and attract all sorts of crazy people.

"Coffee!" she exclaimed a little louder than she intended, "I need coffee and…on the window…"she pointed at the glass window. "It says you have coffee!" She smiled, content with her logic.

The strange man only nodded and moved behind the counter.

_How could he have no reaction?_ - She thought.

He calmly brought her a humongous blue mug filled with the best-smelling beverage in the universe and dropped it in front of her.

"Thanks…" she answered a little shyly after he had shown no emotion; _was he a zombie? _

He only nodded again; it was almost like he was challenging her to make him react.

He took a rag from his back pocket and started to rub one of the many already-clean tables.

It was then that Lorelai took a sip from the most wonderful coffee that she had ever tasted in her entire life. "Oh. My. God!" she yelled, suddenly overtaken by the unbelievable greatness of the perfection of that small-town coffee. She even closed her eyes, thinking that in that way she would taste it better.

"Are you ok, Miss?" a heavy male voice asked her.

She opened her eyes to see a concerned pair of dark blue eyes staring at her, really close to her by the way… It was the first full sentence he had spoken.

She smiled back at the guy; it was nice that he was concerned about a complete stranger, "I'm fine, in fact I'm great!"

The man frown his eyebrows, questioning.

"This is the BEST coffee I've ever tasted! And believe me when I tell you that, my friend, cuz you're talking to one of the world's greatest coffee experts!" Lorelai took another gulp from the cup, "Mmmm, yep, the coffee gods have smiled upon you!"

"Good," was the only thing the man said after she confessed her love for his coffee.

That woman was starting to annoy him.

"Is your burger as good as your coffee?" she asked, seeming truly interested in the answer.

"I don't eat red meat, but people seem to like it…" he shrugged.

"Are you one of those health freaks?" Lorelai asked, surprised that a diner owner would say such thing. So far, that was the only trait that he shared with Californians. "You're wasting the best years of your life with granola bars! Carpe diem, baby!"

"Being healthy will grant me the incredible task of getting to 40, unlike other people…" The woman had really gotten on his nerves, questioning his eating habits while hers were obviously disgusting.

Lorelai was quiet for a second, surprised by the long--for him--and meaningful statement.

"Hey, was that personal?" she pretended to be offended.

"I…I'm…" he said uncomfortably.

She laughed at him; he was an easy man to vex; maybe now she would have something to do until her firm gave her the 'ok' to go home.

He realized that she was just messing with him. "Wanna a burger then?"

He seemed to sober up; no way would he be a joke material to some crazy newcomer.

"Yeah, nothing green on it though…" She contorted her face just mentioning vegetables.

He nodded then turned before she could see the discreet smile that had crept upon his face. What a total basket case had the winds brought to town…

"I'm Lorelai, by the way," she added as an afterthought. How could she have shared her love for coffee and everything greasy without ever introducing herself?

"Luke," he said simply from behind the counter, after announcing the order to the cook.

"Right," she looked at the sign hanging on the door. "Should've figured…"

He fixed his cap a little shyly. "I'm not very creative with names…" he explained.

Lorelai grinned at him. "I can't really talk about original names…I named my daughter after me; I just felt like I deserved the honor, ya know?"

He didn't know how to answer to that; he neither had a daughter nor had named the diner to honor himself… "I think my case was just a lack of imagination…"

She noticed how the stranger looked cute when he had his 'I'm thinking' face on; in fact, the stranger was very cute and she couldn't help but notice his serious badonkadonk butt!

"Is my burger gonna take long?" Lorelai was starting to feel impatient with hunger.

"I'm gonna check…" Luke went into the kitchen to find out about her order.

Lorelai was left almost alone in the diner; she had no other option but to look out the window again. She saw a bearded, chubby old man frantically talking to a woman right in front; the man moved his arms around like he was conducting an orchestra at the speed of light; the woman smiled and nodded once in a while. After a few seconds, the woman gave the elderly man a final smile and quickly walked into the diner.

"Honey, I'm home!" the young pretty woman announced to no one in particular, and so it seemed until Luke came from the kitchen with Lorelai's dinner and said woman hugged him fondly.

"Rach, I'm working…" Luke said, ignoring her hug.

"I'll help!" she said, moving to the back of the counter and grabbing an apron; she returned, taking the order from Luke's hand before he could even realize what happened. "Whose food is this?" she asked a bedazzled-looking Luke; after many years of dating Rachel, he was still surprised by how helpful she could be when she wanted something.

"Rachel, what have you and Taylor been discussing?" The screws starting to turn in his head; he had seen them talking in front of the diner.

"Nothing…" she answered slowly; Luke looked at her sternly. "Okay…well, he told me that if I convinced you to put up some of the 'Stars Hollow Appreciation Day Festival' flyers on display then…he would give me the official town photographer job…" She looked at him sweetly. "And you know that I really need it!"

"Now's not the time to have this conversation," he said in a low voice that was meant so people couldn't hear him, although Lorelai heard them loud and clear.

"Okay!" Rachel tried to hide her disappointment; she knew when she had just lost a battle, "whose food is this?" She nodded at the plate she had been holding.

"It's Lorelai's," Luke answered simply.

"Whose?" Rachel asked, curious that her grumpy boyfriend had said someone's name instead of his usual: 'the customer on the right' bit.

"Lorelai." He pointed at the beautiful woman staring out the window.

"Oh." Rachel was intrigued and a little worried that Luke, her boyfriend, had befriended such pretty competition; she took the plate to the woman. "Here, enjoy." She wore an amicable smile on her face.

"Thanks," Lorelai answered, already shoving fries into her mouth; those were good fries…

Rachel walked back to her boyfriend and pulled him towards the storage room so they could be alone.

"Rachel, I've already told you that I'm working…" His tone was on edge.

"Do you know her? From where? How long?" Rachel questioned, as if on a mission to find the truth.

"What are you talking about?" Luke asked, a little lost; he thought she would want to argue with him about putting up those ridiculous flyers…

"About the woman?" she spoke a little louder.

"What woman?" he asked, now completely lost.

"The woman wearing a summer suit, for Pete's sake! The one who must be really cold, because that outfit is completely weather inappropriate, the one I've never seen before!" Rachel yelled in the middle of a jealous fit.

"Oh," he seemed to, finally, sense her jealousy, "are you talking about Lorelai?" He found his girlfriend's new behavior funny…

"Yeah," she snorted. "Loh-re-lai!" she spoke in a high-pitched voice, as if making fun of the newcomer.

"I just met her…" he acted nonchalantly.

Rachel didn't look happy with his response.

"In fact, I met her today, minutes before you came in…" He approached her and touched her arms, moving his hands up and down to soothe her.

"And how do you know her name?" Rachel asked, not entirely convinced yet.

"She told me." He received a doubtful look from her. "Really, I never asked."

"Mmmkay…" she smiled again. "Back to work then…" She pulled him toward the noisy diner.

When they returned, they found Lorelai sitting at the counter, engrossed in conversation with Caesar, the help Luke had hired over the summer. She had a plate of apple pie in front of her that seemed to quickly disappear.

Rachel felt calmer after witnessing that scene; the woman apparently spoke to everyone, nothing to worry about then…

They went back to work; after all, it was one of the busiest hours in the diner.

They were busily running around, writing down orders, refilling coffee cups when all was interrupted by a loud, electronic sound. People started to look around, trying to find the source of such an unpleasant sound, when they heard the newcomer talking into some sort of new electronic device.

"Hello?" Lorelai asked into her cell; she was conscious of how many stares she received from the people in the diner. Cell phones were still a little new in California; she could only imagine how they were here, in the smallest city in the world.

"Hello, Mrs. Hayden!" came her boss' voice from the other side of the line.

"Oh, hi Mr. Davenport." She was hoping that it was her daughter calling her, "how are you, sir?"

"I can't complain, how about yourself, Lorelai?"

"I can't complain either." Why was her boss calling her? She really hoped it wouldn't be to announce that she had to stay longer than they had talked about. "Although it is a little cold up here," she laughed into the phone.

"Oh, then I have some good news for you!" he announced over-excitedly.

That made her fear what he would say next.

"Really?" She tried to sound equally enthusiastic, as she discovered that the whole diner was observing her and her incredible new gadget.

"I was going over your reports…and I think it's time for you to come home," he stated simply.

That made her unsure about her situation at the firm, was that a good thing?

"I think your job there is done," he added.

"I could do some more research, sir. If necessary, of course!" She tried to demonstrate her willingness to stay, his intentions still unclear to her.

"We have enough; we need you here in L.A." His tone was lighter, he was smiling.

Thank God.

"It's a deal, sir. When should I go back?" And she noticed that she was breathing again.

"Well, since the material for Mr. Rich's suing was insufficient to start any legal action, I would like you to stay there for another two days, then you can attend another of our local office meetings and fly back." His deep voice continued, "You could give them some guidance; I don't know if they know what they're doing, they are very efficient, but a little new to practicing law. I know you can help them."

"Of course, it'll be my pleasure." She was using her serious lawyer voice.

"And I also know that you're probably missing little Rory dearly!" He gave her one of his deep-throated laughs.

"Yes, sir, I am. You know it's been the first time we've been apart…" Lorelai said, a little emotional.

"It will be over soon; see you Monday at the office!"

"But I'll be back on Friday; don't you want me to show up on Saturday?"

"No, I think we can manage to survive without you for another day; I don't want be responsible for Rory's trauma caused by a distant mother!" And he guffawed again; she could feel her cell shaking.

"Thank you, sir. That's very generous of you."

"You're welcome, dear. Now good evening!"

"Good evening, see you on Monday!" She had a silly smile plastered on her face when she turned off the phone.

She was going to see Rory!

And she was going to see Chris too… She would be obliged to talk to him this time, she had promised him after all; it would not be fun to tell him the truth.

That everything was over, for good.

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	2. Lawyer superstar going down, roger!

**It's update time!! –feel free to jump up and down all you want, just don't hurt yourself… )**

**So…I think that, maybe, in the 1st chapie I didn't let it clear that this is a JAVA JUNKIE story and that although, for the greater scheme of it, Chris has to make appearances on it… so don't even think about daring to think that I'd do horrible anti-LL things, mmkay? – Crystal clear I imagine…**

**All the info you need to know for this story is written on the 1st chapie, if any questions should come up…just shoot me!! ---sorry, I just always wanted to use that in an actual sentence…**

**Please stand up and bow down to the perfection of my betas!!! No, there's no exaggeration on that.**

**MrsDionysiousOGall  
OzDust **

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**- Lawyer super-star going down, roger! - **

She was one of the last to leave the diner; she had decided to try everything that seemed good on the menu, since she was leaving in two days and probably never coming back.

Rachel had been very nice and explained her how to get back to the 'Independence Inn'; she gave her some coffee to-go and told her that she was welcome back whenever she wanted to visit, and that she should bring her little girl too.

Only once she knew that Lorelai was no real threat to her relationship, that is.

Luke hadn't said anything more than 'bye'; she could tell from the first time she spoke with him that he wasn't what she would classify as 'chatty'. But he was nice and she felt proud knowing that she was able to have a conversation with the town's monosyllabic man; she hadn't lost her talent. That was a good thing to know, since she was on the way to becoming a single woman again. It was good to know that not only could she attract men, but she could also keep up with small talk.

Lorelai arrived at the cozy Connecticut Inn all smiles; not even the French man at the front desk could bring her down today. She would be home with her kid in two days, 48 hours--she couldn't wait!

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Thursday was a very busy day; Lorelai spent the entire day in meetings. Her boss had been right about the people from this new office: they were mainly just out of law school and didn't have much field experience. She felt that she would probably be asked to come here to help them a couple more times; that did not please her, but still, it was good to be needed at the firm, she felt important.

The youngsters respected and looked up to her; it felt awesome. Some had even looked her up and found out that she had worked as an assistant in one of the firm's most important cases ever, and that after that she had been immediately hired.

She was almost a super-star to them; she was fine with that…

But although she was being well treated and was actually having some fun with the young people, who were rare in her profession, she had had enough of Hartford for the next decade…

She was homesick, and it was not a pretty sight to see…

Lorelai sat on her room's bed, surrounded by chocolate, popcorn and pizza; the bright side of living in a hotel room was not having to clean after yourself… An old classic played on TV; Lorelai mouthed the dialogue along with the characters.

Suddenly the phone rang, interrupting the movie; she found the remote, turned down the volume and picked up the phone.

"Yeah?" she asked her mouth still full of chocolate.

"Mrs. Hayden?" came a voice with a thick French accent.

"Uhum…" she quickly swallowed, "that's me!"

"Can I transfer a phone call from Miss Rory, California, to you?" the man asked monotonically.

"Of course!" Lorelai screamed excitedly into the phone.

"I'm transferring then." And he hung up. This French man was very succinct.

"Mommy?" she heard her little girl's voice from the other side of the country.

"Hi, sweety!" She had to gather herself to not cry on the phone; she missed her.

"Mommy, are you coming today?" Rory asked for the umpteenth time, she had asked that every single day since she'd left.

"No, tomorrow," she explained in a soft voice.

"Tomorrow?"

"Yeah, you are going to sleep tonight and then when you wake up, it will be tomorrow!" Lorelai tried to sound super-enthusiastic so as not to repeat the previous day's fiasco, when they both, mother and daughter, had cried on the phone.

"But mommy, I'm not sleepy yet!" Rory gave a full-hearted laugh.

Lorelai checked her watch; seven o'clock in California, definitely too early for her to sleep. "You're right…silly mommy!"

"Silly!" And Rory was laughing as if that was the funniest joke she had ever heard.

"So, Rory, what did you do today?"

"Mommy _is_ silly! I'm not Rory today…" and she was giggling again.

"Oh, yeah?" Lorelai should've known… "And who are you this fine day, Miss?" Lorelai asked in a lower, conspiratorial voice.

"Secret?" came the tiny voice from the other side.

"Of course, I pinky swear!" Lorelai announced to the little one.

"'K, I'm Belle!" Rory shouted, excited.

"Oh, wow! Good choice, Belle!" Lorelai said, amused by Rory. "And have you talked to the Beast lately?" she asked seriously.

"Mommy, I'm not _really_ Belle!" and the little pink girl started a new round of fresh giggles.

"Really?" Lorelai tried to sound very surprised, "Oh, you had me fooled Belle…I mean Rory!"

And the baby giggles continued for a couple more seconds.

"Silly!"

"Did you go to Jenny's today?" Lorelai asked, since Chris had told her that Rory had a play date after daycare.

"Uhum…we played with her nanny, Mar-ria! And then we saw 'Mulan' at the big movies!" Rory was loudly expressing herself.

"How cool!" Lorelai whooped.

"And there was a red funny-funny dragon in the movie!"

"Really? A dragon?" she sounded surprised, "I'm afraid of dragons…weren't you afraid?" she asked curiously.

"Nooo, I'm a big girl now! I'm not afraid of anything!" Rory proudly announced.

"Yeah, but I'm afraid of dragons…" she pretended to be scared.

"Don't be scared, mommy…It was a nice dragon!" The four-year-old tried to soothe her.

"Phew! Thank God! I feel much better!" Lorelai pretended to be relieved.

"Daddy is saying that it is dinner-time! Did you have dinner yet, mommy?"

"Yeah," she looked guiltily at all the junk food around her. "Mommy had a nice chicken salad."

Liar, liar, pants on fire! – But it was a good lie; what kind of example would she be setting for her kid if she told her that her meals during the last few days had been exclusively junk food?

"I like chicken nuggets!" Rory announced loudly, four-year-olds tended to hoot rather than talk…

"I know you do!"

Lorelai could hear Chris telling Rory that it was time to say goodbye and have dinner; oops…

"Mom…mmy!" Rory's voice started to whine, "Daddy, said…to…" she sniffed deeply. "Bye-bye!" and she started to sob into the phone.

Lorelai hated when that happened; she felt completely useless. There was nothing she could do to make her baby feel better...

"I...don't...want say...bye-bye!" Rory half said, half cried.

"Hon, don't cry..." Lorelai said helplessly; there was nothing she could do over the phone. "You don't have to say bye..." she talked in the most soothing voice she could manage.

The last thing she said seemed to get Rory's attention, because her sobbing decreased considerably.

"We'll see each other tomorrow, so you can say: see you soon!" she said cheerfully.

"Tomorrow?" Rory repeated her question.

"Yeah, remember...you'll sleep and then when you wake up it will be the day that mommy comes home!"

"Mommy's coming home!" the little voice screamed forcefully.

"Yep, so...see you soon, angel!" Lorelai held her tears inside; it'd been only three weeks since she had seen her little girl, but it felt like a lifetime.

"See you tomorrow, mommy!!" a recovered and happy Rory hooted from the other end of the line.

Lorelai placed the phone carefully in its hook, and then the tears started to roll freely down her cheeks. She couldn't help it; she missed her little angel so much that her chest physically hurt, as if someone were squeezing her heart.

That's it; she desperately needed comfort food, like 'Ben & Jerry's'. The problem was that she had none, and she was also out of pizza and chocolate; she would have to go out and buy some, since the hotel didn't sell any of those goodies.

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Lorelai was certain that she had seen a '7-Eleven' on the way to the hotel; it had been the only thing on the road...

She drove a couple of minutes in the direction of the small Stars Hollow until she saw the bright neon light that cut the darkness of the night, even if it was only eight o'clock.

The store was on the other side of the road; she would have to do a 'U-turn'. She hated U-turns; she was afraid of them...she always thought that some big eighteen-wheeler would come out of nowhere and hit her...it was just one of those irrational fears...

So she decided to walk across the deserted road; she felt safer that way. Lorelai stepped out of the rented jeep onto the paved road, wearing her slippers and pajamas; she left the keys in the ignition and had some dollars in her pocket. Her curls had been put in a high pony-tail; if she didn't really need 'Ben & Jerry's' she would've just stayed in tonight.

Her eyes adjusted to the little light in the road; she looked at both far ends of the road and walked ahead.

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Luke hated banks and bank people...and everything bank-related. They would try to rip you off and would still behave as if they were doing you a favor, like they felt honored to serve you and that that, in fact, was a pleasure to them; _that _annoyed the hell out of Luke. Sometimes he would question if he wouldn't be better off hiding his money under the mattress or in a coffee can...

They had, once again, made him go all the way to Hartford to discuss shit with him; as always, nothing that truly required his physical presence at the bank. He had waited for an hour before the manager finally called him in to discuss the 'matter at hand', a.k.a. crap to make you pay higher fees to maintain your bank account, which according to the manager had many advantages...

His dislike for cookies and coffee did nothing to help him with all the waiting; they had no tea...what sort of waiting room doesn't have tea?

Luke pushed his foot deep against the gas pedal; he wanted to get home soon. He was hungry and he needed to sleep, after all, he had to rise early: early deliveries, errands, etc...

The green truck didn't seem to want to cooperate though, because independently of how hard he pressed the pedal, it never felt fast enough.

Finally, after a few seconds, the truck started to speed up on the empty road; he felt a smile grow on his face as the frown on his forehead disappeared.

And then she saw her, in the middle of the road.

He tried to brake, but the old truck wasn't what it used to be...it took too long to respond...

Then he tried to sway the heavy truck out of the way, but that did no good since the woman was standing in the middle of the road.

He heard a loud thud and only a few moments later, realized that the noise was a consequence of the impact between the big green truck and the anonymous woman.

"Shit!" he heard himself swearing, even though the surreal feeling of a nightmare started to grow in him; this just could not be happening.

Once the truck stopped, he took a deep breath as if giving himself the opportunity to wake up if this was, indeed, a nightmare; and when he didn't, he ran to the pavement to check on the woman.

The first thing he noticed was the thick, dark red blood; he had never seen so much blood... He saw that it was flowing out of her head, _head injury_, and he thought the worst. But he couldn't bring himself to step forward and check her pulse; that was a reason he had never wanted to be a doctor, he was terrified of these things...

He dried the sweat that was quickly leaving every pore of his body with the back of his hand; he had never been so frightened.

He reached for her in a heartbeat and relief flooded through him when he felt her pulse: she was still alive.

That seemed to make him conscious of the time; she was alive but maybe she didn't have much time, so it was crucial that he move rapidly.

He gathered the body in his arms and laid her in the passenger-seat the best way he could; he entered the truck and sped towards Hartford Hospital, never once seeing the parked jeep on the other side of the road.

So, did I surprise you?

I mean…I didn't even know that was gonna happen…

Nah, I'm kidding…I've known all along…I know the end too.

If you read it all:

THANK YOU!!

So what did you think? Have any ideas? Comments? Observations? Complains?

Mocha


	3. The blank road to recovery

Bona notte!

First of all…sorry for the long wait… my internet connection was out for a while…

All you need to know for this fic is in the 1st chapter, if any questions shall come up don't feel shy and let me know!

It's 1998

Lorelai is in Connecticut on duty

Luke is with Rachel

This is JAVA JUNKIE, of course!

It's necessary to thank my amazingly perfect betas:

MrsDionysiousOGall  
OzDust

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So…recap? Since I'm sure you don't remember what's going on… once again I apologize for the late update…

"_Shit!" he heard himself swearing, even though the surreal feeling of a nightmare started to grow in him; this just could not be happening._

_Once the truck stopped, he took a deep breath as if giving himself the opportunity to wake up if this was, indeed, a nightmare; and when he didn't, he ran to the pavement to check on the woman._

_The first thing he noticed was the thick, dark red blood; he had never seen so much blood... He saw that it was flowing out of her head, head injury, and he thought the worst. But he couldn't bring himself to step forward and check her pulse; that was a reason he had never wanted to be a doctor, he was terrified of these things..._

_He dried the sweat that was quickly leaving every pore of his body with the back of his hand; he had never been so frightened._

_He reached for her in a heartbeat and relief flooded through him when he felt her pulse: she was still alive._

_That seemed to make him conscious of the time; she was alive but maybe she didn't have much time, so it was crucial that he move rapidly._

_He gathered the body in his arms and laid her in the passenger-seat the best way he could; he entered the truck and sped towards Hartford Hospital, never once seeing the parked jeep on the other side of the road._

_---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- _

**- The blank road to recovery -**

Luke had been in the uncomfortable hospital waiting room for three days now; Rachel would come and go.

She took charge of the diner as a favor to him.

He felt horrible about the accident and had promised himself that he wouldn't leave the hospital until the lady was well again.

Easier said than done though...

After the accident, three days ago, he had rushed her to the E.R., and that was the last time he saw her. He told the doctors exactly what had happened but changed a small detail though; he told them that the woman was his sister so they would follow-up with him concerning her recovery. (A/N: work with me here, I know this's impossible in the real world but in fic world anything can happen; right?)

The doctors would show up at least twice a day to update him on her medical status. The head injury had caused her to go into a deep unconscious state and the doctors told him that they would only know the true consequences of the injury after she woke up.

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5 days after the accident:

Lorelai awoke on what would have been the fifth day of her coma. She opened her eyes to see a completely new and strange place. She had no idea where she was, that is until she concluded that she was laying on a hospital bed, like she remembered seeing on that TV show...what was it again?

Her head hurt as she tried to move it; she felt like something kept her from moving...and with some strength, she raised her unbroken arm and touched her bandaged head. Her leg was in a cast but she couldn't remember when all this had happened--how could she not remember something like that?

She would remember if someone beat the shit out of her, right?

She wanted to yell, scream that she was awake, but her throat felt dry and sore...she tried to say something but just couldn't think of anything to say...

She was feeling very confused; a thousand thoughts ran through her mind but at the same time, her brain seemed empty. What was happening to her?

Then a nurse walked into her room. "Hello, Sleeping Beauty!" she greeted after she realized the patient was awake.

"I can't remember...anything," Lorelai said in a teary voice.

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"Mr. Danes?"

Luke had thought the sound of someone calling his name was coming from his dream, but it sounded further away...then he felt himself shake and decided to open his eyes.

"Yeah?" He sat straighter; Rachel was still sound asleep, resting on his shoulder.

"I'm sorry to wake you up..." the nurse he had already met said, "but I thought you would like to be awakened if your sister was awake...and she is." The older lady smiled at him, happy to be the bearer of such wonderful news.

"Really?" Luke was suddenly completely awake.

She is alive and awake!

"And how is she?" he asked curiously.

"Doc Paytoon will be down soon, he'll inform you of the details," the nurse explained, already ready to leave the waiting room; she exchanged a happy smile with Luke before she left through the double white swinging-doors.

Luke woke Rachel up and shared the news, then both sat and waited for the doctor to come and further explain the condition of the woman, Luke's new sister.

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There wasn't much to do in a hospital bed, especially if you couldn't move most of your body; possibilities were mainly restricted to sleeping...But the nurse had told her that she had been in a coma and she was a little scared that she would fall into it again if she slept. So, even though her eyes felt very heavy, she decided that falling asleep wasn't an option.

She heard the doctor's steps before he entered the room and introduced himself.

"Hello Lorelai, my name's Dr. Daniel Paytoon, you can just call me Daniel if you want to..." the handsome blond man said, grinning. "I'm here to help you in any way I can." He gave her a full-toothed smile.

"Why can't I remember...things?" she asked in a low, almost shy voice; but still straight to the point.

"You had an accident, a mild concussion that hurt your brain; we can't tell how long this confusion you're feeling is gonna last, but we'll do whatever we can to help."

"Will I ever remember?" Lorelai asked, panic taking over.

The idea of being lost in the world didn't appeal her...

"I dunno, you've just woken up." His answer didn't seem to satisfy her. "We need to run some tests, but...it might take days, months, even years to recover your memory. Studies show that you're more likely to recover them than not." That seemed more acceptable to her.

"Good." She exhaled a little portion of her worries.

"We'll get you the necessary assistance, really." He took a step toward her bed and touched her unbroken arm, to reassure her. "I'll tell you what," he said in an overexcited tone, "I'm going downstairs to the waiting room, to tell your eager brother that you've woken up; he'll be thrilled, I'm sure."

She smiled uncertainly, "I don't remember having a brother..."

"It's ok," he said in a softer voice, "it's normal, after all you've been through...your body is tired...we'll run some tests, like an MRI; and we'll take pictures of that pretty brain of yours to see if there's any apparent damage. And if there is, then we just have to see how long it will take for you to get better..." He shot her a whitened full-toothed smile. "And meanwhile I'll be talking to your family."

Even though she knew that she should have been carefully paying attention to every single word he said, all his words came out in blah-blah language in her brain.

And why did he have to use the first person of the plural so much? It wasn't like he himself, and a couple of his nurse buddies were together performing the tests on her; so why the hell use 'we' so many times?

"So don't you worry, we'll figure something out, everything will be fine, you'll see." And the brightest smile ever flooded the room again.

Lorelai only felt it right to smile back, even though she had no desire to do so.

"We'll take you for testing in a minute!" And with that, the doctor left her alone in that cold, white room.

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Waiting room – a few minutes later:

The blond doctor entered the cold typical hospital waiting room: blue armchairs, white walls with some unnoticed work of art and, the essentials, junk food and coffee machines. He scanned the room and found a pair of eyes looking at him expectantly; he walked toward the man and offered his hand for a shake.

"Mr. Danes, I presume." The man only nodded in return; after being a doctor for a while, he had developed the ability to recognize a patient's relatives.

"How's she?" the man blurted out, holding his cap tightly in his hands; beside him was a red-headed belle.

"We're running some tests on her right as we speak," he gave them one of his charming smiles; that was supposed to calm him down. "I suspect that Lorelai is suffering from, what we call in the biz, retrograde amnesia."

Both Luke and Rachel gasped at that.

"Amnesia?" Rachel asked, surprised.

"Retrograde amnesia's normally caused by traumas that result in brain injury; although critical details of the physical changes in the brain that cause it are still unknown." Dr. Paytoon smiled amicably.

"I'm sorry," Luke started. "What does that mean?" Why doctors always spoke in jargon with simple non-medical people was a great mystery to him.

"She hurt her brain," the doctor paused to see if the couple had understood so far. "And that affected the medial temporal lobe and maybe the hippocampus." He felt he would have to explain a little more. "The memory part of the brain, temporarily."

The couple breathed out their relief.

"We hope," they looked alarmed again. "We will know the gravity of it when the test results are ready, it shouldn't take long..."

"Will she be released after the tests?" Luke asked, the wheels already starting to turn in his head.

"Depending on the results, yeah." The doctor put the chart he had been holding under his arm. "I'll give you all the instructions on how you ought to take care of her, especially since she has two broken limbs."

He was interrupted by Rachel.

"Instructions? Take care of..." She turned to Luke. "But there's not even enough space for us in your apartment...and will she need a hospital bed?" She turned ask the doctor.

"I don't think so, a normal bed will do," he answered.

"Good. But there's only one bed..." she turned to Luke again. "Are you sure you wanna take her in?"

"Of course!" Luke said strongly, "it's my fault that she's hurt." A flicker of sadness appeared in his dark blue eyes.

"Okay." Rachel smiled at him and held his hand in hers; if her boyfriend wanted to have a female injured stranger in his apartment out of pure guilt and wanted her cooperation, she would do so.

He smiled at her and squeezed her hand.

"But you're putting Taylor's sign on the diner." She smiled again.

"I don't think so," he simply stated but gave her a shy smile anyway. "When will the results be ready?"

"In no time; they'll only show us the degree of her trauma; and that will let us estimate how long her recovery should take." The doctor started to check his watch.

"But will she remember?" Luke asked, "And what exactly can't she recall?"

The doctor took a deep breath to recover some of his patience. "She might never remember the events before the accident; and if she does, I'll warn you that it's not a fast process. It is crucial to let the amnesiac go at her own pace, so she doesn't feel overly stressed. Every patient is different so there's no standard recovery or time frame for it, we handle it on an individual basis." The doctor started to slowly walk away. "I'll leave you to your thoughts," and he smiled a white-toothed-smile.

"One more thing," Rachel said in a louder voice.

Dr. Paytoon stopped in his tracks and turned around, a question written on his features. "Yeah?"

"Will she remember us?" Rachel didn't know what to think; would they tell Lorelai that she was Luke's sister?

"Right now she doesn't remember anything, but maybe in the near future." He gave them one last hopeful smile and left the room, his pager beeping furiously on his belt.

"What will we tell her?" Rachel asked her boyfriend.

"I have no idea."

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A week later:

"You have to give her this medicine, Amytal," the doctor explained to a much-focused Luke. "It's a white powder so you can either mix it in her food or drink; it will keep her calm and help with the overwhelming flow of new information." He handed Luke a bag of medicine and a folder that contained instructions on how to handle an amnesiac.

"Thanks." Luke shook the man's hand.

"I believe you've already set up all the psychiatrist appointments for the month?" Dr. Paytoon asked as they shook hands.

"Yes, all taken care of." Luke smiled weakly; he knew deep down inside that he was doing the right thing by 'adopting' the woman he had injured. His helping her wasn't solely out of the obvious guilt he was feeling, but also because he knew that the woman was alone in this world; she didn't remember who she was, for god's sake!

But, even knowing all that, he could start feeling the extra weight of the new responsibility settle on his shoulders.

And as if the doctor could read the concern in Luke's eyes, he said, "You'll do fine, she'll do fine; and we're right here for anything you need."

"Thank you." Luke smiled truthfully now.

"These situations are never easy, just take it slowly."

"We will," Luke said as he saw Rachel approach them Lorelai in a wheelchair. She was out of the cast but still a little sore.

They had had an entire week to 'meet' each other, and Lorelai seemed ready to check out of the hospital and begin her recovery 'at home'.

The woman looked completely lost as she looked around for something familiar in the strangers' faces. She only gave him a small smile in acknowledgment.

"So, Lorelai, ready to go home?" the doctor asked her, all smiles.

Lorelai frowned, obviously puzzled. The truth was she had no idea where her home was, or her life, or how would she fit in it again.

She really didn't recall who she was, but she wished with all her will that she did.

"Bring it on!" she said enthusiastically.

She felt ready enough to find out.

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That night:

Lorelai soon found out that her brother was a very nice, caring person; he was being really patient with all her questions and difficulties. But his girlfriend didn't seem to care so much about her though; she wished she knew what her problem was.

A million thoughts ran through her sore brain as she lay awake in her brother's bed; the smells and coziness of the apartment made her feel like this could, in fact, be her home. It didn't feel as inhospitable as the hospital room had been before, although she couldn't remember any other time that she had felt this utterly homey sensation...

She shut her eyes tightly once more, trying to recollect any lost memories: nothing came. Her life seemed like a big white, black and gray blur before the accident--was she even alive?

Had she truly existed then?

Did she really exist now?

Her head started pounding; there had not been one day since she had woken up that she didn't have a killer headache, she knew that she was trying too hard...but wouldn't everybody do the same if in her position?

She watched the slow late night shadows dance on the ceiling and walls of the apartment until she fell into a deep sleep.

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Luke awoke to a loud noise, and only after opening his sleepy eyes did he realize that the noise came from his body hitting the floor. He had known that the couch was much too small for him; but he couldn't abandon Lorelai.

What if she needed something in the middle of the night?

He got up from the hard, wood floor and tried to massage himself; that that didn't work as expected.

He looked over at his guest's sleeping form and it hit him: this was the most relaxed he had ever seen her. All her features were at ease, her breath steady. He decided to let her sleep as much as she desired, it couldn't be easy being her right now.

That's when he heard a gentle click at his door; he turned around to see a still slow-paced Rachel walk into the apartment.

"Whatcha doing here so early?" he asked her in a whisper.

"I came to help." She smiled in slow motion.

Although Rachel looked hardly awake, her brain was already going a mile a minute; in fact, her brain hadn't slept at all.

Thoughts of the strange beautiful woman alone in her boyfriend's apartment all night...bothered her deeply. And, even though she trusted Luke with her life, she knew nothing about the other...was she trustworthy too?

Would she try to steal her man?

Rachel had complete knowledge of how childish she would sound if she ever tried to express those thoughts aloud...but that didn't mean she could do anything to stop them either.

"'K, what's really the deal here?" Luke asked curiously. He knew that although Rachel was an early-to-rise kind of person, like himself, she would never come in this early to help him.

"I came to help you; I know you have a lot on your plate right now." She moved closer to him and put a hand on the side of each arm.

"Uhum..." He still wasn't convinced.

"Really," she stated, looking deeply into his eyes.

Rachel could feel knots starting to form in her stomach; how horrible of a person was she to feel jealous of a poor broken woman?

She kissed his cheek and he seemed to ease a little.

He seemed too much at ease; she felt exactly the same.

She felt threatened that the woman he was taking care of looked exactly like his type and that was the reason she was here: to protect her territory.

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Rachel checked her watch, it was already two in the afternoon and Lorelai was still sleeping; or she thought she was...the thought that she might feel weird coming down to the diner had just occurred to her...and coming to the gossip lions' den didn't sound like a good idea from where she was standing either...

She had been helping Luke with the diner since the extreme early hour he insisted on opening every morning. People would think that she would be used to it by now, especially since she was the one in charge when Luke was at the hospital, but the truth was that she wasn't any good handling any sorts of routines, different from her boyfriend who lived by them.

At the end of the morning, she ran to her house to grab a few clothes that neither she nor Luke were too fond of, and collected them for Lorelai; she was clothe-less after all...

She needed clothes, but it wasn't necessary that she looked good in them.

She thought that the early afternoon lull was the closest she would get to a break to go check on the girl.

Rachel yelled some explanation to Luke and ran up the stairs, carrying a plate of burgers and a bag of clothes.

She gently pushed the door in case the woman was still asleep, but when her eyes focused on the bed, she saw nothing; instead, she found the woman staring out the window in what seemed like a catatonic state.

"Lorelai?" she tried to speak as softly as possible.

The woman's back didn't look like it moved at all.

"Lorelai?" She touched her shoulder, "I have food!" Rachel tried to sound cheerful.

"Yeah?" Lorelai turned slightly then closed her eyelids tightly, as if to remember something. "Rachel, right?"

"Right." Rachel exchanged smiles with her, "aren't you hungry?"

"Now that you mention it..." Lorelai turned fully. "I could eat something..." she said, a little embarrassed.

"Oh, I've got just the thing for you." Rachel guided her to the miniscule kitchen where she had left the plate, "a hamburger with everything on it and French fries!" she playfully announced.

"Sounds good." Lorelai sat at the table followed by Rachel and started to pick at the fries one by one. "Mmmm, so much better than hospital food!"

"Oh, I can imagine!" Rachel laughed with Lorelai, relieved that she wasn't in any sort of catatonic state. "You know, when Mr. Danes was in the hospital...I used to bring him some illegal food from the outside world..." Rachel told her in a conspiratorial whisper.

"Really?" Lorelai asked, her mouth full of junk food.

"Yeah, he also hated hospital food..." she smiled as she reminisced, turning serious for a moment. "Just don't tell Luke that, kay?"

"I solemnly pinky swear!" and Lorelai offered a greasy finger to Rachel, who gladly accepted as both laughed.

Maybe she's not half bad...Rachel thought.

"I think...cough..." Lorelai started to cough, "I need...something to drink..."

"Oh...yeah...of course! Stupid Rachel!" Rachel said as she quickly got up from her seat, but before she left the apartment, she turned and asked; "do you like coffee?"

And Lorelai remembered about not remembering a thing...she felt lost again...

"I dunno..." was all she could answer because she couldn't for the life of her recall something as simple as a food taste.

Rachel saw the transformation in Lorelai's expression. "I'll bring you some and then you'll find out whether you like it or not!" She gave her a big smile.

"Sure," Lorelai answered in a tone that didn't match the other's.

"And you can go through that bag over there," she pointed to the plastic bag on the leather couch; "it's just some clothes for you...until we go shopping!" Rachel added, okay, so maybe the stranger was growing on her...

Lorelai got up and grabbed the bag from the dark brown couch; she sat in the kitchen again and started to analyze the clothes.

She couldn't remember what her personal style was, but she could say for sure that those sporty outfits were not it...

She started to pull all different types of baggy sport-y pants out of the bag, some oversized t-shirts and horrible, horrendous 'great-grandma pj's...that probably had come over on the Mayflower...

She was definitely shopping, with or without that Rachel woman...

As soon as she had shuffled all the horrendous clothes inside the bag, to hide them from the other clothes, they could get offended you know...Rachel barged in, bearing a pretty large mug in hands.

"Okay...brought you some coffee!" She set the mug in front of Lorelai.

As soon as that heavenly smell hit her nose, Lorelai knew that she had to like that black-colored liquid; she held the big mug with both hands and brought it to her mouth...She was amazed at how much she loved it and how familiar it tasted to her.

"I love it!" she stated simply but still with enthusiasm.

"Don't you wanna put cream or sugar...or..."

Rachel was interrupted. "No, it's perfect this way..." She hummed to the pleasure her mouth was enjoying.

"Okay." Rachel looked skeptically at how much pleasure Lorelai seemed to be getting from a simple beverage.

Soon Lorelai had finished eating, stating that her food tastes, new or not, certainly included coffee, burgers and fries and that hospital food wasn't included on the list.

Rachel introduced Luke's sister to the miniscule TV he owned, strategically hidden in a dark corner since it sent rays directly to your brain resulting in cancer. The duo tried to get the best out of the small box, but the static and its old age made it impossible; they had to give up on the Lorelai-would-stay-upstairs-watching-TV plan and moved on to the Rachel-and-Lorelai-stayed-upstairs-playing-board games-all-afternoon plan.

Rachel really enjoyed the afternoon, even though she wouldn't t say that to Luke; the uneasiness in the pit of her stomach definitely decreased and she was thinking that, maybe, tomorrow, she wouldn't have to show up so early to help her boyfriend out.

Around seven that night, Rachel left, saying she had some errands to run; the whole apartment became quiet and lonely.

Lorelai didn't like that feeling.

She quickly found some new activity to perform as she decided that she should investigate the apartment, and apparently her new home, to know every little detail of it, boredom really brought the true freak out of people.

Sooner than expected, she had finished her inspection and came up with nothing really interesting that could be used as future blackmail material: no naked ladies pictures, magazines or weird-shaped toys; no childhood stuffed animals or love letters; no girlfriend's perfume or underwear. In fact, she found every little spot of the place completely clean and tidy and that made her feel heavy with laziness, just from looking at all the work to keep the place like that.

She guessed she wasn't a cleaning person either.

After a few more minutes with only herself as company, and all the craziness in her head, she decided to listen to some music, anything...

She grabbed the old stereo from inside her brother's closet; her inspection had come in handy after all, and on the fifth attempt tuned in to a local station.

She lay down on the surprisingly comfortable leather couch and closed her eyes to rest a little; she wouldn't fall asleep or anything...

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And your opinions are…

I'd love to know what you think.

Thank you for reading this!

Mocha


	4. Strangers tend to bond through beer

**Okay here comes another update! )  
**

**I'm gonna be traveling during Carnival, to the most perfect beach with the best parties so it might take a while to another update, that's why I decided to do it now… when I'm still sober and at home with my dear computer…**

**The last chapter seemed to provoke all sorts of reactions from people, from hate to love and some of you asked some stuff that I should probably clear up….**

**- I want this fic to transmit the confusion that's been going on Lorelai's mind, her ignorance about her past and Luke's as well; I want them on this path together completely oblivious to what's going on with her real California life and that's why I also decided to become one-sided in my narrative since I'll be telling you only what's going on in Stars Hollow. I think that their obliviousness will be more believable to you if you go down the same way with them, got it? **

**Amnesiacs tend to have a long phase of confusion, right now Lorelai is more worried on finding her true self than testing if what people tell her is true or not. She's vulnerable and insecure and of course she questions her surroundings but she also thinks that it is all a normal consequence from her trauma, her brain just accepts any information as being true there's no filter… --I'm not making that up since I did my research on this disease…**

**-As **googleaddict **pointed out the whole paper work required by hospitals are nearly impossible to burl, and I know that's not something Luke would do… I'm sorry if I have no answers to how Luke pulled off I just ask you to bear with me and believe in the future of the fic, since these chapters are just the base for what I really want to happen…**

**I hope that answers your questions, anything else feel free to opine! Feedback is a must in anything….**

**I wanna thank my wonderful betas:**

MrsDionysiousOGall  
OzDust

**- Strangers tend to bond through beer. - **

**------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

For Luke, the day had been like any other: he woke up before dawn, took a shower and opened the diner. From that point on, the rest of it was the same as the day before and the day before that. The only differences were that he hadn't slept in his bed--his girlfriend either; he had an incredibly attractive stranger in his home and Rachel had bonded with her...Yeah, his day had been pretty ordinary, but completely wacko all the same.

Luke closed his business around ten o'clock and went upstairs. He had almost forgotten about his guest; he walked into his dark humble abode, got himself a cold beer and decided to watch sports on his small screen.

He had just taken the cap off the bottle when he bent to sit on the couch. He was dead tired, but when his behind touched down, the leather-y object screamed! He was so scared by the sound that he let the beer bottle slip out of his grasp, spilling the liquid all around.

It didn't take him long to figure out that the scream had come from his sleeping guest; he should've turned on the lights when he entered his apartment...

Lorelai had been having a dreamless rest, but still it was enough to recharge her injured brain. She was actually half-aware of her surroundings and that's why she was so surprised when she felt the extra weight on her back, and then she screamed with all her might.

"Oh my god!" She sat up, feeling the cold liquid soak her, "you scared the hell outta me!"

Her heart was racing in her chest and as she calmed down, she recognized the smell of..."Did you spill beer on me?" Lorelai asked as she smelled a lock of her wet hair.

"I'm very sorry..." Luke said as he raced back from the kitchen with a towel to clean her up, "it was not intentional...I walked into the dark apartment and...turned the radio off...but the light...I didn't...I wanted to sit and..." Luke stopped when he noticed her amused face. "Why are you looking at me like that?" he asked grumpily.

She grinned as she tried to dry herself. "That's the most you've ever spoken to me."

"Really?" he asked with surprise; he remembered talking a lot in the hospital, although maybe it hadn't been directly to her and more about her.

"Yeah, I even thought you weren't capable of doing it." Lorelai gave him a sideways smile.

"This's the most you've talked to me too..." He wanted to prove to her that she wasn't in a much different situation, although he remembered very clearly the day she walked into the diner and filled every minute of her stay with crazy comments and laughter. He wished she would recover her memory...he didn't want her to miss her life...

"Uh, but that's a very different situation. See, I had a mild concussion that got me into a coma and caused amnesia; I have the right to behave weirdly!" She laughed.

"And what if I tell you that you were always weird?" Luke said, based on the only day they'd talked before, the day they met.

"Then...I would say that I'm happy to be behaving in _my_ normalcy," she answered without a second thought.

"I'm happy too," Luke stated simply, looking deeply into her blue eyes.

"Thanks." She meaningfully matched his look.

Luke only nodded; he could never think of anything to say in this kind of situation...

Then he noticed that she was shivering from the cold; he had spilled most of the long-neck beer on her.

"Are you hungry?" he asked her.

"Yep!" Lorelai answered excitedly; she had already discovered that the man could cook. "I loved my lunch burger!"

"I'll cook us a healthy dinner."

That resulted in a nasty face from his guest.

"Don't worry, you'll like it."

"How do you know?" Lorelai asked out of curiosity; how he could know what she liked to eat?

"I know," Luke said in a serious and secure tone. "Now, why don't you take a shower while I cook?" He handed her a big fluffy green towel. "You smell like booze!"

Lorelai laughed lightly as she grabbed the towel. "Thanks, I'm flattered!"

He dismissed her last comment and moved to the kitchen.

Lorelai took the horrendous pajamas that Rachel had brought her and went to the bathroom for a nice warm, relaxing shower.

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When Lorelai walked out of the bathroom a good thirty minutes later, she could smell the heavenly homemade food; that made her miss something...she just didn't know what it was...home, maybe?

Luke observed the woman emerge from the bathroom wearing a horrific nightgown.

It was light pink, made of a thick and heavy wool fabric; its length reached her calves and it had buttons everywhere. It was embroidered with flowers, birds and nature; it was horrible.

"Where did you get that?" Luke pointed to her gown.

"Rachel brought it for me...since I have nothing else to wear. She'll take me shopping later." She tugged at the sleeve, which was a little short on her since she was taller than Rachel.

Luke kept staring at her, thinking how could a piece of clothing look that bad if it was worn by such a pretty person.

"It's horrible, isn't it?" she asked while she playfully traced the tropical-looking flowers embroidered on it.

"No...it's just...an old-fashioned style." Luke wanted her to feel better about herself.

"Come on Luke...say it: _it's horrible_!" Lorelai spoke in a low, masculine voice; at least she tried to.

And then she started giggling. "You won't hurt my feelings!" She encouraged him to tell her his true opinion.

"It is pretty awful..." Luke spoke shyly.

"I know." Lorelai smiled at him. "And it itches too!" she said as she scratched her neck.

Luke gave her an almost imperceptible smile, she returned the gesture.

"Ready to eat?" He gently guided her to a chair at the dinner table.

Lorelai watched impatiently while Luke brought the pans, salad bowl and orange juice to the table.

"What's for dinner?" she asked before he even sat down at the table.

"I've already told you, we're having healthy food," Luke said with a serious face. He waited a few seconds to hear her complaints, but when they didn't come, added: "Aren't you gonna whine about the food choice?"

"No, you said I would like it." She was sitting up straight, staring at the covered pans. "I believe you." She looked sincerely at him.

That much honesty was new to Luke; he wasn't used to people being this open with him and although it freaked him out a little, it was also kind of nice that she felt comfortable enough to speak like that to him.

"Good," was all he managed to answer.

They talked all through the meal. First Lorelai described the fun afternoon she had enjoyed with Rachel, then they moved on to sillier things, such as the quality of music at the present time. Lorelai recited the lyrics of the new hit 'Baby One More Time' and that resulted in a long Luke rant, something she would soon become used to. They then moved on to movies and how Lorelai had seen a commercial for a new movie that she would love to see: 'City of Angels'. Luke wasn't too crazy about the title, or the summary that she reenacted for him.

By the end of the meal, which Lorelai loved by the way, both had kept the conversation light, no one wanted to remember the circumstances responsible for their gathering.

Luke had noticed that Lorelai had been scratching her arms and neck all through dinner, and now her skin seemed to have a rash where she had scratched with her nails.

"I think you're allergic to wool..." Luke stated when he started to clear the dishes from the table, "maybe you should sleep in something else." He opened the faucet and started to wash the dishes.

"There are other clothes in the bag..." Lorelai said thinking out loud, but when she stood to go get it, Luke interrupted.

"It's not necessary; those clothes are for you to wear during the day. I can lend you something," he said, his back turned to her because he was facing the faucet.

"Is it gonna be flannel?" she asked with a barely-contained smile; she had noticed that that was the base of his entire wardrobe.

He turned very slowly. "If you don't like flannel...you can keep wearing that ugly thing."

His eyes told her it was a joke.

"Oh, no. I luuuve flannel, haven't I told you how much I love flannel?" She smiled brightly and mockingly. "I'll even wear it with a cap if that'll keep me from wearing _this_." She held out the pink fabric.

"I'll ignore that last comment," Luke said as he dried his hand on a towel. "I can see that you're really allergic to that fabric." He walked to his closet and retrieved a great variety of flannel, all possible mainly-male combinations could be found in it. "Which one do you want?"

"Don't you have a pink one?" Lorelai asked, feigning innocence.

Luke only rolled his eyes.

She stepped closer to the pile; it didn't make much difference to her which one she took, as long as she didn't have to wear that itchy thing again.

She touched the shirts to see if she could base her choice on the level of softness, but they were all the same; she found a blue long-sleeved one that seemed warm enough.

"I'll take this one!" she announced loudly, as if there was a crowd in that tiny apartment.

"Okay..." Luke thought she was beginning to sound more and more like the nut that had come to the diner.

Lorelai ran to the bathroom and quickly changed into his shirt; of course, some adjustments were needed, like the triple folding of the sleeves so it was possible to see half of her hand, and she had to button the front a couple of times until she got them all right.

But when she left the bathroom, she had a big smile plastered on her face; relief was written in her eyes, she wasn't itching anymore.

"Better?" Luke asked as he fixed his sheet over the couch.

"Perfect," she said in a sing-song voice as she got into bed, fluffy blankets all around her: she was in heaven.

Luke was soon lying under his covers too, all lights off. He began to perceive the weight of the day. Suddenly he remembered that he had never told Lorelai about the real circumstances of the accident, and that he had planned to tell her that day...he couldn't keep that information from her...But his eyelids were feeling so heavy and Lorelai was probably asleep already...

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The next day:

Lorelai awoke the next morning to the delicious and inviting smells of fried eggs and...coffee!

Maybe she was getting addicted.

She heard the shower running and concluded that Luke was in it. She took that time to grab a sporty pair of pants from the bag and put them on; she didn't feel comfortable walking around in only her host's shirt, it felt wrong...

Even if the host was her brother...

She served herself a big cup of coffee and decided to wait for Luke before she started to dig into her breakfast. She had the very distinct feeling of being taught to wait for others, or in this case, the other, to start a meal; or maybe it was only her polite instincts.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the bathroom door clicking open; she turned to see a fresh-looking Luke; he was already dressed but the feeling of freshness was sustained by his wet hair and just-shaved look.

He smiled at her. "Good, you're awake."

"That I am," she answered in an equally friendly tone.

"I see you found the coffee," he observed. "Rachel said you liked it yesterday."

"Like is too weak a verb to express even half of my impression of it," she corrected.

Luke smiled at her answer, very much like her behavior before the accident.

"I need to talk to you," Luke said as he served her a big portion of eggs, pancakes and bacon.

"Shoot," Lorelai answered before shoveling a forkful of food into her month.

"There's something I need to tell you," he gulped loudly. "I think you're ready to know it now..."

He had her full attention now; her eyes focused on him, her ears listening intently.

Luke noticed that she had stopped eating and that made him nervous. "I'm the one that hit you...with the car."

He waited for a reaction, any reaction. But since none came, he kept explaining. "You were in the middle of the road...showed up from nowhere...I couldn't...couldn't brake in time." Luke looked at her shocked expression.

"You. Hit. Me." Lorelai repeated his words so as to let them sink in her brain.

"I took you to the hospital...I...thought you had...you know," Luke looked deeply into her eyes, "died."

She took a deep breath, her eyes filling with tears.

"But they wouldn't tell me any news about you." Luke wanted her to understand. "And that's why I...told them, the doctors, that you were family." He saw the confusion in Lorelai's eyes." Sister, I told them you were my sister."

Lorelai immediately broke eye contact and turned from him.

"I felt guilty; I needed to know how you were doing." Luke spoke honestly.

Lorelai assumed that he never truly cared about her, only about his legal situation.

"Enough," Lorelai said dryly, "I need some fresh air."

And she ran towards the door downstairs and passed a stunned-looking Rachel on her way out.

Rachel's surprise didn't blind her though; she was able to see clearly what the woman had been wearing: Luke's flannel.

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Luke was next, running like a maniac towards the door, but Rachel was faster this time and stopped Luke with her arm.

"What's happening?" she asked with evident anger in her voice; in her jealous brain, thousands of bad scenarios popped up.

"I told her the truth," he said after the sudden stop, his hopes of ever catching Lorelai starting to dissipate.

"What part of it?" Rachel asked, aggravated by the knowledge.

"All...all of it," Luke said, and for the first time, the thought of all the information being too much to throw at Lorelai occurred to him.

"Jeez," he exclaimed in frustration after his realization.

"But I thought we'd been through this..." Rachel said confused, "you would tell her little by little..."

Rachel had long ago concluded that all that new information would have to be given out in little fractions; she knew it was not wise to overload an amnesiac...

"We need to find her," Rachel stated strongly, "you search the east side of town, I'll go west! Meet me here in an hour,' she ordered before quickly disappearing to the west.

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Luke had looked in every little corner of his side of the town, and maybe a little beyond it too...

He had walked, run and now he had moved on to the 'dragging himself around' part of the search; the weather was dry and cold, the more he sweated, the colder he felt. And people kept stopping him to chat or ask why the diner was closed; he was definitely not in a good mood.

So when he reached the little county bridge, all he could think was that now he would sit down and rest a little; hours had passed since Lorelai disappeared. He and Rachel had met at the diner at the appointed hour but neither had good news, so they decided to regroup in another two hours; one had already passed...

Luke took off his cap, which was both responsible for his warm head and the constant flow of sweat from his scalp. He dried it a bit and assumed his thinking position; cap in hand, looking ahead but nowhere at the same time. And that's when movement caught his sight: he saw a darkened silhouette sitting under a tree, and knew it was her.

He quickly but quietly approached her. He saw the flannel figure shivering, so he did what any gentleman in his place would do: he took off his already-warm green military jacket and offered it to a surprised-looking Lorelai.

Lorelai was completely pissed off at him, but between hypothermia and pure stubbornness, she figured she would take any options that kept her alive in the future. She didn't look forward to going back to the unfriendly hospital. So she accepted the jacket and donned it rapidly; she felt her body getting warm and then gave him a smile.

Luke nodded his acknowledgement; he was happy she hadn't been violent towards him; that had to be a good sign...right?

He offered his gloved hands to her and helped her stand on her feet.

"It wasn't just guilt, you know?" he said, once they were facing each other.

Lorelai frowned in confusion.

"I knew you, you had come to the diner two days before the accident," he breathed out, causing an even deeper frown on Lorelai's forehead. "That's when I met you." He smiled at the memory." It was a brief encounter, but you made quite an impression."

"What do you mean?" She twitched her nose questioningly, 'Bewitched' style.

"Your personality completely took over the space; it was impossible not to be distracted by you..." Luke suddenly stopped talking, now aware that he had been talking too much. "I _am_ really sorry." His expression changed to one of sadness.

"Can you help me?" Lorelai asked hopefully; she was ready to take any opportunity that could help with the big blur that her past felt like.

"I will do everything I can," Luke said honestly.

"That's good enough," Lorelai said, shaking his hand to make it official that they had a deal.

"Come on, there's a hot cup of coffee waiting for you at the diner." Luke started to walk in the direction of the bridge.

It took Lorelai all of three seconds to process what he had said and then she was running after his retreating form.

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When the duo arrived at the diner, Rachel was sitting in the empty and dark place; she looked up expectantly as they entered.

"Are you ok?" Rachel shot at Lorelai.

Lorelai nodded positively. "I'm just a little cold." She smiled lightly.

"I was worried," Rachel said, relieved to know that the stranger they were responsible for was in good condition. "I'm glad he found you in one piece."

"I happen to agree," Lorelai answered jokingly.

While the two women were talking, Luke locked the front door and also started to brew a new fresh pot of coffee goodness. After a few minutes, three bowls were placed onto the only occupied table; two contained tea, like Luke's mug, and the other was filled with coffee to the very brim.

"Thanks," the ladies answered in unison.

Luke nodded and sat with them.

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**Don't feel shy…tell me what you think…**

**Thank you for reading this!**

**Mocha**


	5. Crying ladies love colorful flyers

**A/N: I'm baaack! And with an update no less!**

**There's still seem to be some confusion with this story, so I'll try to clear them up…I've been answering ppl's questions by replying to the rr but since I know that that must be others w/ similar doubts who are a little lazy to actually ask… I'll answer them here too.**

**- Of course that people in California are worried about Lorelai, the choice of not showing that side of the story is entirely mine since I believe you'll understand better the future events if you don't know too much… got it? **

**It's all part of my master plan… (Insert evil laugh here).**

**Or is it? (Raise one eyebrow suspiciously).**

**-Ah, and I wanna remind you that Rory's only 4 in this story… and although she's very smart, she's no prodigal genius! She's just a normal toddler…**

**This chapter is brought to you thanks to my incredible duo of betas:**

**OzDust (applause!)**

**MrsDionysiusOGall (cheers!) **

**On with the story…**

**- Crying ladies love colorful flyers. -**

**--------------------------------------------------------------------------**

For Luke, the only problem with promising Lorelai that he would help her to recover her true personality and memories was that he was as lost as she was, if not more, and this investigation was not only made out of good intentions...

He figured that, at some point, he would have to share his promise with his girlfriend. Maybe she could help with something, although he wasn't so sure whether she would like it very much.

It had been two weeks after that infamous day when Lorelai ran from the apartment in his flannel, which had caused some questions from his mate, some queries about fidelity that left Luke utterly uncomfortable.

And since expressing those doubts, Rachel hadn't showed up as much. He feared the worst.

He feared that she would take off; she had always talked openly about it, that if some day she felt like there was no longer a real connection between herself and the land, she would leave and photograph the unknown world.

And he knew she had the strength required to do so.

So he decided to share those fears with the only other woman he could talk to--ok maybe he didn't freely decide to tell Lorelai anything, it was more like she pressed him to talk.

And the weird part was that he did, he talked to her.

"There's something bothering you..." Lorelai thought out loud as she observed Luke wipe the same spot for the zillionth time. She feared he would make a hole in it.

She had observed his changed behavior for a while; she figured that it was directly connected with the sudden lack of Rachel's recent appearances. Poor Luke!

Luke didn't look up; not even when she repeated herself.

And when a new flow of diner customers started to invade the little corner diner, she moved behind the counter and, after putting on Rachel's apron, began to wait on them.

Luke only realized this a few minutes later. "Lorelai! What are you doing?"

"I'm helping," she said enthusiastically, happy to finally be able to help with something.

"You know you're not allowed here!" He moved behind the counter too.

"Sorry, but I tried to summon you out of La-la land!" she answered with a slightly higher tone.

All the patrons looked at them, all of them anxious to see a fight. This was one of the ways that small-town people got their entertainment fix; that and gossip.

"You can't scream at _me_ when you're behind _my_ counter!" Luke shouted back.

"I'm not screaming! You are!" she said not only in a high-pitched but also a screaming voice.

He grunted in response.

"Come," Lorelai said, holding his big hands in hers as she pulled him through the curtains and out of the public eye.

Seconds after the couple disappeared, all the patrons were discussing the latest information about Luke's life. Gossip was another very common way of entertainment in this particular small town.

"That's Luke's new girlfriend," Miss Patty announced knowingly; just loud enough for everyone in the room but outsiders to hear.

"What about Rachel?" Babette asked in her drama-queen style.

"Rachel's history," someone added. "That's definitely his new girl."

"Oh yeah, I saw her enter the diner the other day!" an anonymous voice added.

"That's what I'm saying," Miss Patty continued. "And those blue eyes, gorgeous!"

"Imagine the beautiful children!" Babette exclaimed excitedly.

Everyone cooed at that.

"I heard that Rachel left for Africa!" some other voice stated, followed by a new flow of comments.

"But my Morey saw her yesterday, sugah!" Babette announced louder than the rest.

That caused a moment of silence.

"Okay, maybe she's just going to Savannah, South Carolina," the same voice cleared up.

There were mutual understanding comments from everyone.

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Meanwhile, Luke and Lorelai had moved to the storage room for some privacy.

"What's up with you?" Lorelai asked, concern apparent in her voice.

"There's absolutely nothing up with me," he answered, annoyed.

"You've been acting..." she thought out her words well, "different."

"Am not," he answered childishly.

"Yeah, I see," she laughed lightly at his behavior. "Is there something I can do to help?" she asked, becoming serious again.

"If there's no problem then there's no need for any help on your part, is there?" he said harshly.

He was being rude; the understanding part of her really wanted to solve all his problems, but the other part, not so nice, wanted to punch him senseless.

Good thing her nice part won.

"Do you want me to talk to Rachel?" she asked patiently.

"No." And he left the storage room.

She breathed in some air to calm herself down and went after him to help with the diner, if he let her, of course.

She decided to have a nice chat with Rachel the next day.

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The next day:

Lorelai had been staying in Stars Hollow for almost three weeks now and her whole new life had been lived in a 1200-hundred square foot area, pretty sad...

She knew that Stars Hollow wasn't a big town, but it was still _too_ big to go door-to-door to find out where Rachel lived; and she was a little scared to ask Luke...

So she decided to go to the source of the town's knowledge: Miss Patty, that's what the postman had said after she asked him for directions to Rachel's home.

She crossed the town square to a wood-covered dance studio, where a big round woman smoked a French cigarette and shouted instructions to little ballerinas in tutus.

The large woman beamed a large smile when she saw Lorelai walk in.

"Looking for dance lessons, sweetie?" she asked after blowing some smoke in Lorelai's direction.

"No," she answered after a couple of coughs. "I'm looking for something else..."

"Yoga, cardiovascular exercises, salsa?" the woman asked, "you name it, I teach it."

"I'm just looking for some directions; they say you're the big woman in town," Lorelai blushed. "That's not what I meant..." she explained shyly.

"Oh, aren't _you_ sweet?" Miss Patty said dramatically. "I know what you mean honey." She smiled amicably at the newcomer.

"I'm looking for Rachel's house." As she mentioned the woman's name, she looked at the diner, worried that somehow Luke could hear her. "I need to go there," she whispered.

"Don't worry, I know where it is." The woman smiled broadly, not only because she was helping but because she had just heard the town's newest dish from a reliable source: the current girlfriend was going to visit the ex...She just needed to be creative with the rest...

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Later that afternoon:

Rachel lived in an old cute brick building.

Lorelai could've described her door to perfection had anyone asked her to do so, because she had been staring at it for some time now.

After a very intense inner pep talk, she convinced herself that it was a good idea to show up on Rachel's doorstep holding a bag with two board games.

After some knocking, Rachel opened the door, looking like crap.

"Hey, Rachel," was all she could manage to say.

"Lorelai?" she asked, surprised. Lorelai had been on the least-possible-people-knocking list.

"That's me." Lorelai smiled up at her; maybe going there hadn't been such a great idea...

"Come in." Rachel opened the door for her right after recovering from the shock. "How are you?"

"The same, ya know...can't remember a thing." She faked a laugh. "Luke's been driving me to the hospital for my psychologist appointments though..." Lorelai stopped after she saw Rachel's face change at the mention of the grumpy diner owner's name.

"Good." Rachel walked into her kitchen. "Would you like some tea?"

"Sure." Lorelai accepted out of politeness; she had discovered that she wasn't a tea person.

She moved to the small and almost devoid of furniture living room. She sat in an armchair and looked around; there were suitcases everywhere, like she was ready to leave at any moment. "Are you planning a trip?"

"No," Rachel said, smiling after delivering Lorelai's mug of tea. "My bags are always packed, in case a great opportunity shows up and then I'll be ready to leave."

Lorelai simpered at Rachel's unique idea. "Do you wanna leave town that much?"

"It's not like _that_..." Rachel tried to explain. "I love it here," she honestly smiled. "Stars Hollow has always been my home and it will be forever, but I wanna see the world through my lenses," she stated passionately. "You probably think that's silly..." She dismissed the importance of what she was saying.

"That's not silly at all," Lorelai said seriously; she wished she could remember if she ever had felt this passionately about something, but as certain as Taylor and Luke fighting every day, she couldn't remember a thing. "Can I see some of your pictures?"

"Of course!" the redhead answered excitedly, then brought out a big black leather book. "These are my favorites."

Lorelai started to look at the book, which was actually a photo album, and was amazed at how many feelings Rachel's photos transmitted.

There were pictures of all the town's beautiful places, some of its inhabitants and some children playing in the park.

"These are amazing!" Lorelai exclaimed every time she turned a page, and then there was a picture of the most gracious little girl she had ever seen. The girl was around four years old, dressed in a puffy pumpkin Halloween costume and with big blue eyes; she looked like she was about to cry.

That picture must have truly shaken Lorelai because the next thing she knew, she was sobbing on Rachel's shoulder, the other comforting her.

"What happened?" Rachel asked when Lorelai had calmed down a little.

"I dunno...the picture..."She tried to explain that it felt like there was something squeezing her heart. "I feel...like I miss her." That was it, she missed her.

"You...miss Mrs. Plum's daughter?" Rachel asked, confused, "How can you miss her? You don't know her..."

"I dunno..." Lorelai said distractedly, "I just know that...that's the first thing that's made me...feel something, ya know?" She looked at Rachel, looking for understanding.

"Like...from before the accident?" Rachel asked after understanding what the other meant.

Lorelai only nodded, tears freely rolling down her cheeks.

"Isn't that good?" Rachel asked excitedly.

Lorelai continued to quietly cry and nod.

"That's great!" Rachel stood. "We should celebrate!"

Lorelai looked at her questioningly.

Rachel disappeared into the kitchen, and returned with two shotglasses and a vodka bottle.

Lorelai smiled.

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Very late on the same day:

Luke had been crazed after Lorelai left; he didn't think it was in her personality to run away because he had been a little rude to her...even if she had already run from him, but that was a very different situation and she knew him by now...she knew that sometimes he could be a little..._difficult_.

He had avoided going to the only place that could have some information about his guest's whereabouts, but in times of desperation...

Luke crossed the town square to Miss Patty's dance studio; its door was closed because of the late hour, but Luke knew of a side door that provided access to Patty's house--something he had learned in one of his many escapes from the dance lessons Patty convinced his mom to sign him up for.

He moved to the side door and banged loudly on the door. Patty opened a few seconds later.

"Who's banging so hard this late at night?" Miss Patty asked, seductively leaning on him, her nightgown's cleavage showing him _way too _much.

"Good evening, Patty. Sorry if I woke you up..." he said, taking a step back from her.

"No big deal," she winked at him. "With that ass of yours, you can wake me any time you want, you hunky piece of lust!"

Luke looked at his shoes, profusely embarrassed. "I need to know if you've seen Lorelai..." he asked hopefully; he was worried sick about her.

"Is that your new girlfriend's name?" Miss Patty asked knowingly.

"She's not my new girlfriend," he tried to control his tone. "Rachel's my _girlfriend_, Lorelai's my _friend_." He tried to reason with the most unreasonable person of all.

"Does Rachel know that?" Patty asked in an annoying tone.

"Of course she knows that!" He paused to regain his posture, "have you seen her or not?"

"She's at Rachel's apartment," she answered before closing the door in his face.

_Was she serious?_ he thought.

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Lorelai's head felt like there was something knocking on it...she opened one eye and could see that she was laying on Rachel's couch; Rachel was sleeping on top of the game board.

She tried to stand so she could find out who the obnoxious person knocking on the door was; after a couple of tries, she was on her way to the door.

Luke was knocking his last knock before giving up when the door partially opened to reveal a shitty-looking Lorelai.

"So you _are_ here," he stated; he wasn't sure if he had believed Patty's information until now.

"Shhh..." she shushed him, "Rachel's sleeping on top of the 'Life's game board..." she whispered, pulled the hoodie closer to her body and left the apartment, almost closing the door, to muffle the sound.

"I was looking everywhere for you!" he yelled-whispered at her, "I'm not nineteen anymore and I don't have to go after my sister when she disappears after a party!"

"Mmmkay..." she said, totally at a loss, "I didn't know it was that late...we fell asleep..." she said innocently then pouted; she had recently found that to be a very effective way of convincing Luke to do things he didn't want to do.

"You should've called," he answered seriously, "I was worried..."

"Sorry...I'll leave her a note and we can leave, 'k?" She was back inside before he could respond.

Lorelai left a note on the fridge saying she had to go home and that Rachel should bring the games back to her the next day; that was the only way she could think of to force both to see each other and, hopefully, talk.

"I'm back!" Lorelai announced after covering Rachel with a blanket and closing the door.

A small smile played across Luke's features.

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A lot of people felt groggy after drinking half a freezer-full of cold good vodka; they would want to sleep in the dark for many days, but not Lorelai.

She was feeling completely energetic and wouldn't shut up even when the lights were tuned off and she was supposed to allow Luke, the early riser, his rest.

But that wasn't happening anytime soon and Luke decided to just grunt in agreement once in a while and leave all the talking to Lorelai; she didn't seem to have any problems with that...

"Good night, Lorelai," he said for the fourth time since they went to bed.

"Night," she answered in a lower voice; sleep seeming to be finally catching up with her.

But after just enough seconds for Luke to think that he was finally being given permission to sleep...

"Luke!" came the voice from the other side of the room, "are you awake?" She lowered her voice.

It occurred to Luke to fake being asleep but he had no mean vein in his body. "Yeah?"

"I forgot to tell you something..." she started cautiously; she had been yelled at a couple times already for interrupting Luke's REM state. "It's kinda good news..."

"Do tell..." he said mockingly, because he had learned that Lorelai needed no incentives to keep talking, _ever_.

"At Rachel's today...I remembered something..."

"Really?" Luke woke up completely, utterly interested now. "What did you remember?" he asked as he sat on the couch.

"Well...I was looking at Rachel's pictures, they were all so pretty..." she started to recount the incident.

"But then there was a picture of a toddler, a little girl with big blue eyes...and I started crying intensely...because I missed her..."

"The girl in the picture?" Luke asked, confused.

"No, I probably know a little girl...and I miss her...or she could be me too...I have blue eyes..." Lorelai tried to explain but instead got more confused.

"I don't think _she_ is _you_..." Luke said, standing up from the big brown couch and coming towards her.

"What do you mean?" she questioned as he sat on the corner of the bed.

"When you came here for the first time..." he started gently, "you told me that you could understand that I had named the diner to honor myself cuz you had done the same with your daughter..." he finished and waited for the information to sink in.

"What are you saying..." and she realized, "Oh my god! I have a daughter!" and she covered her mouth in surprise.

Tears started to prickle her eyes and then slowly started to descend her face, dropping from her chin to her chest--until Luke hugged her to him, that is.

He cradled her as if she was the most precious thing in the world; who would've guessed that a rough diner man could be so sensitive and gentle?

Lorelai didn't, but she could have figured that out from all his previous heartfelt actions toward her.

"I have a daughter...and I named her after _me_." She weakly laughed at herself.

What a nutty idea to name your own daughter after yourself, wait...but didn't men do that all the time?

It _was_ a nice idea.

And then the most disturbing thought occurred to her: if she ever had a daughter, she would like to do that too...only problem was that she had already done it...

"Luke, I don't remember her..." and a new set of tears started to soak his pajama shirt as she grasped his collar.

He didn't mind comforting her, although he didn't think he could actually help; he was pretty awful at those kinds of things and had an irrational fear of desperate, crying women. That didn't stop him from hugging her close to his heart, or from trying to soothe her with positive words or caressing her head and losing his fingers in her curls...

"How can I not remember my own flesh and blood? And how old is she?" She looked up from the shirt to his eyes, which only reflected the hopeful feeling emanating from her own.

"I never...asked." And for the first time in his life, he wished he were nosy, just so he wouldn't need to see the increasing disappointment apparent in her features. "I'm sorry..." was all he could say as she clenched his shirt between her fingers again.

"It's...not...your fault," she managed to say between sobs.

Luke decided to hold her until she either said she was feeling better or fell asleep in his arms...

"I'm sorry you can't remember..." he added.

Soon the sobs subsided and their breathing adopted a normal rhythm as they fell into a deep sleep, holding each other.

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The next day:

There was a very small list of things Luke could say he was truly scared of; in fact this list consisted of only three things.

The first, and most unlikely to happen, was the fear of a natural, or not, catastrophe that would end the entire human race and the Earth. Maybe he had watched too many action movies or read too many comic books as a teenager, maybe there was an even deeper meaning to that fear but he would never pay a lot of money for a shrink to blame it all on his parents or childhood...

The second was very rational and could easily be understood. He was terrified of losing his loved ones, since he had already cruelly lost his parents and his sister; the latest lost in the world due her Kerouac's wild tendencies. That was the reason he would have either one of two very distinct reactions towards his loved ones: he would cling to them or push them away.

And the last one was totally irrational but shared by the majority of men: he couldn't deal with crying women.

And as a consequence of his third deadly fear, on the day after Lorelai's breakdown, he would've given her everything she wanted just to stop her from crying again. He didn't want to see her crying...he felt so helpless.

It took Lorelai a total of fifteen minutes after waking up to notice that, on that special day, Luke seemed more willing to obey her usually-ignored commands.

And it took her another three minutes to determine what she would make him do while he pitied her.

Lorelai was standing behind the counter, because of its obvious proximity to the coffee, when she saw a pile of flyers on one of the counter's shelves. She took one off the top; the main title read: 'STARS HOLLOW APPRECIATION DAY', in capital letters; and she knew exactly what those were.

When she and Rachel had been talking and drinking the night before, the flyer was mentioned as proof that Luke wouldn't ever listen to his girlfriend, or cared.

According to her, if Luke would only put up one flyer in public view, Rachel would be considered for the job of official town photographer. She had gone on and on about how much she needed the extra cash at the end of each month.

So Lorelai decided to use her special day persuasive powers to help Rachel.

"Luke, what are these?" she asked sweetly as he came from the kitchen holding two hot plates.

"What?" he asked after serving his patrons.

"These," she fanned the colorful paper in her hand. "What are they?"

"It's a stupid Taylor flyer..." Luke explained as he wrote down some orders, pad in hand.

"What's the 'Stars Hollow Appreciation Day'?" she continued to question.

"It's one more stupid town festival that Taylor decided to make up," he went into full rant mode. "It's also about his senseless competition with Woodbridge's dumb town selectman--whoever creates more futile celebrations wins; it's just great."

"I would like to go," she said, interrupting his rant. "The flyer says it's fun!" She read from the pink sheet of paper she held, looked up at him and smiled hopefully.

"Are you crazy?" he questioned, already annoyed, "I don't do town _anything_."

"But I've never been to any of these..." She shook the paper in hand, and then started with a light pout.

"No," he answered grumpily; not even his fear of seeing her cry was enough to make him appear at a town festival. What was next? Town meetings?

Her pout intensified.

"No." He said it in a harsher tone this time, so as to scare her from trying any bigger pouts.

"Please?" She looked deeply into his eyes, looking totally devastated.

And that's how she reminded him that she couldn't remember anything, nothing, not even her daughter...and he felt truly sorry for her. She had nothing in her life at present, and even if she wanted the whole town to herself, he would do his best to give her.

"Pleeease..." she whined as he came closer to her behind the counter.

"Don't get used to it," he said in a low voice right next to her ear, sending shivers throughout her body.

"Is that a 'yes'?" she asked him hopefully, also in a low voice close to his ear, to get back at him, which she did.

"Yeah," he answered as small electrical shocks crackled through his entire body.

"Thanks!" she exclaimed excitedly then kissed him sweetly on the cheek.

He felt like a complete fool for feeling numb everywhere except the exact location her lips touched his rough and unshaved cheek skin.

"Can I hang a sign on the door?" she asked in a nice sweet voice while he was still glued to the same spot.

"Sure," he answered without ever hearing her question.

Lorelai quickly retrieved some scotch tape from the shelf and securely attached the flyer to the glass door.

Mission accomplished.

**-------------------------------------------**

And if you're one of the 10 very courageous ppl that read this entire thing:

THANK YOU!


	6. In the Hollow there’s no sleepless

**A/N: It's update time!!**

**Uncharacteristically of me, I have nothing to say…blame on the flu that has me behaving like a zombie for a week…**

**As always, feel free to make questions; any needed info can be found on previous a/n-s.**

**An honest and cheerful thanks to my perfect beta duo!**

**MrsDionysiousOGall**

**OzDust**

**And last, but absolutely not least, thanks for the rrs!**

**-- In the Hollow there's no sleepless. --**

**-----------------------------------------------------------------------------**

Rachel woke up with a numbness feeling throughout her body, the feeling of an acute pain being felt on her right cheek, the one that rested on the floor.

She opened her eyes to her darkened living room, even though the digital clock on top of the TV told her it was past two in the afternoon.

She rose quietly from the game board that had served as a sleeping pad for the night, and looked around for Lorelai, who she was pretty sure had slept over. But all she found was a note on the kitchen counter.

The note said to bring the games to her the next day –which it already was- at the diner…

Rachel didn't know if she liked that idea very much, but she was not a woman that backed out easily and, like Lorelai had advised her, maybe she should try and talk to her boyfriend.

She went to the bathroom for a shower and to stare into the mirror, to evaluate how bad of a hangover she had. When she looked at her reflection, she figured that the quite sharp pain in her cheek was a consequence of the sharp yellow game piece currently stuck in her flesh. She carefully retrieved it and went into the shower.

She had an important day ahead of her and it hadn't started well at all.

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Rachel walked determined to the diner, looking straight ahead so as not to get distracted by any other things. She was a woman with a mission and that mission would be accomplished that day, by any means necessary.

As she approached the glass-windowed store, she could see the bright pink flyer taped right under the 'open' sign.

_Luke finally heard me, s_he thought with a smile.

She was suddenly a new woman, one that wasn't currently feuding with her lover; nope, this new woman was a winner, she had won the difficult battle of man/woman communication, she felt good.

Her shoulders were straight and her chin pointed at the ceiling as she entered the diner, the proud feeling getting the best of her.

"Hi, Rach!" Lorelai greeted her from behind the counter; "I see you brought the games."

"Yeah," Rachel answered distractedly as she searched around for her man.

"He's upstairs," Lorelai said, smiling after realizing why the other was looking around the diner like a lost puppy. "You can take the games to him, they're his anyway," she suggested.

"Thanks," Rachel said quickly, moving past her and up the stairs.

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Luke had been caught in his own little world of calculations, taxes and other blablabla economic must-dos when he heard a light knock on the door.

Now, he knew that the person couldn't be his blue-eyed guest because, as he learned rather quickly after she arrived, she just didn't knock--she ran into rooms without warning, scaring the hell out of people. Therefore he concluded that the knocker was someone else.

"Come in," he yelled from his desk in the opposite corner of the room.

"Hello," Rachel said as she entered the room.

"Rachel?" Luke turned from his boring doings, and stood, surprised.

"I brought these games back that Lorelai brought over last night," she explained as she placed the boxes on top of the kitchen table.

"Thanks," he said unsurely. He was rather uncomfortable with the situation; they were both acting strangely and he didn't know what to do.

"We need to talk," she cut to the chase; she had been mad at him for too long. They truly needed to talk.

"Okay," he answered quickly, then sat on the big brown couch.

Nothing good could emerge after that sentence, Luke thought.

"I wanna thank you, I think you finally understood my point of view and I'm really, really happy," she stated enthusiastically.

"I'm glad," he answered without having a clue about what she was talking about. Agreeing with women had always been the better way to deal with them; so that's what he had decided to do.

"I thought you'd never get it." She sat next to him on the couch. "That little gesture changed everything." She looked deeply into his eyes. "Thank you."

"What…" he started to ask her, but was quickly interrupted.

"Let me talk first," she shushed him. "I have to confess something," she started in a low voice. "It's a little ridiculous, really…I was a little worried about…her." She breathed out, then looked expectantly at him.

Luke had a puzzled look on his face that perfectly reflected what he felt inside.

"Lorelai," she whispered as if somehow the woman could hear her from the diner one floor below.

"Oh, not this again…" he answered in frustration; didn't they have this discussion already?

And he remembered it being a long discussion, too.

"But now I know that I was wrong." She smiled sweetly.

And he smiled back, relieved that she seemed to understand without engaging in any other long banter, which he was happy about.

"Lorelai told me some things yesterday…" she explained.

"How nice…" he answered sarcastically, although the sarcasm was not noted by Rachel.

Luke wasn't happy with the fact that not only had Lorelai decided to disappear the night before and almost kill him with worry, but that she had also been yammering with _his_ girlfriend about _their_ love life. He couldn't believe her nerve!

Rachel seemed to see his change of attitude; maybe she had said something she shouldn't?

"I'll stop worrying about stupid things," she said as she slowly and sexily came closer to him. "I now have the job I want," referring to Taylor's deal as she pushed her boyfriend down into the fluffy cushions.

The reference was totally lost on Luke; being a man, he was currently not thinking at all.

"And the man I want," she stated before kissing him fondly.

------------------------------------------------------------------

Luke was woken up by Lorelai's voice: "Shit!"

"Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit!" was the whispering sentence that followed.

He rose from under Rachel's sleeping form and went to check what Lorelai was up to this time.

"I never did anything to hurt your feelings, Mr. Cool. Why did you have to go and injury my poor innocent finger?" Lorelai reasoned with the fridge as he walked into the kitchen.

"What did Mr. Cool do?" he asked, surprising her with his presence.

"He closed on my finger." She pouted as she showed him her slightly red finger.

"You'll live." He sat at the table.

That answer only increased her pout; she kissed her own 'injury' and opened the bottle of water she had just retrieved from Mr. Cool.

"I see you two made up." She pointed at Rachel sleeping on the couch as she started eating the food she had just brought from downstairs.

"Yeah, thanks to you," he said seriously. "What did you tell her?" he asked in a not so pleased tone.

"Nothing…" she answered cautiously; shouldn't he be happy that she helped…

"She told me that you said something that made her realize something else and that all made her very happy, but I dunno what the hell she's talking about," he said in an irritated whisper.

Lorelai only stared at him; she had no response to his rudeness.

Or maybe she did.

"I dunno what I said either, k'? But whatever it was, you should be happy about it cuz it obviously helped you and her both, so you can stop behaving so miserably and enjoy some happiness!" Lorelai stated quickly and without taking a breath. "You're a nice man, you should be happy," she finished, looking meaningfully at him. He had helped her without knowing that he was doing so, and it was only natural that she wanted to help him back.

"I'm sorry…" he said gently after understanding her truly good intentions.

She merely shrugged. "I should go help Caesar!" she answered before she left the apartment.

"Oh, geeze!" Luke exclaimed as he noticed her almost untouched plate of food.

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Luke regretted every harsh word that he had said to Lorelai and was willing to redeem himself, that's why after Rachel left that he decided to do something about it.

It had not been an easy task to convince his girlfriend to leave; he had been forced to use his 'early delivery' excuse and how strange the situation would be if she slept over with Lorelai practically in the same room, since the apartment was so tiny. But he was able to get her to eventually leave.

Luke excused himself from the diner, which was unnecessary, since Lorelai and Caesar seemed quite engaged in a discussion of who was the hottest 80´s brat.

He left without being noticed; his destination: the video store. That was an awkward destination for him--Danes men weren't known for enjoying the arts of Hollywood entertainment. But this Danes man wanted to apologize to a woman who always shut up when a movie trailer was shown on TV. And a Lorelai silence, a very rare event, meant that she was actually paying attention to something other than herself, for once.

So Luke, very observantly, put two and two together and realized she liked movies.

He wanted to rent something excellent, something she would really enjoy; but as he started scanning all those unknown titles, he remembered that he knew nothing about excellent movies, or bad ones…In fact, he was practically a movie virgin, he'd seen some, but still had much to learn…

He must have looked as lost as he felt, because soon after that the weird kid that worked in the store came to offer his professional help.

"Hello, sir. I'm Kirk", the boy pointed at the tag in his shirt. "May I help you?"

"I know who you are, Kirk." Luke had never liked him. "I went to school with your brother and you come to the diner every day."

Kirk just stared at him, showing no acknowledgement whatsoever.

"And this _is_ Stars Hollow," Luke added to see if that would result in any reaction.

"Yes, it is indeed," Kirk answered politely.

Luke just breathed out, frustrated.

"We have a wide selection of tapes here." He opened his arms as if to present the two rows of movies in front of them. "The very best you can find!"

Kirk pointed at a particular rack. "Here you'll find suspense, thrillers and adventure."

He looked expectantly at Luke.

"Well…in fact…I'm looking for something else…" Luke began to explain.

"Say no more, my friend!" Kirk interrupted him, "follow me!"

He led the way to the dark back of the store.

"Here's where we hide the X, double X or triple X-rated movies from the innocent, yet curious eyes of children," Kirk said as he showed Luke the many rows of dust-collecting tapes.

"These are adult entertainment. Male or female," he finally finished.

"Actually, that's not…" and he was once again interrupted.

"I'll leave you to make your choice," Kirk said as he puffed his chest out and prepared to walk away. "Mamma doesn't let me stay back here for more than 3.5 minutes!" He checked his cartoon-character wristwatch and started rushing back.

"Kirk!" Luke called after him; he _really _didn't want to admit it but he truly needed someone's help getting the right movie for Lorelai.

"Yeah?" Kirk turned, covering his eyes with his right hand while the other reached ahead to prevent him from hurting himself.

This eventually became hazardous--since he couldn't see or touch, he never saw the step that made him fall and skin his knee.

Of course _that_ would happen!

"I'm OK, I'm OK!" Kirk announced to the empty store.

Luke felt pretty sorry for the pathetic guy as he helped him up.

"I was actually looking for a movie to show as a way of apologizing to a girl…" He blushed slightly.

"A girl movie! I'm much more comfortable with that!" Kirk breathed a sigh of relief.

_Go figure, _Luke thought.

An hour later, Luke left the store, scarred--and scared--for life by Kirk's 'best' reenactments from an endless list of must-see movies.

Another half-hour later and he had the necessities for a special meal, along with three movies.

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Luke had asked Caesar to close the diner, and as predicted, Lorelai had offered to help him, leaving him in peace to fix dinner.

Lorelai had been having a good time with Caesar; he was funny with his radio tuned to the classics to which he would dance like Freddy himself.

But after they had finished cleaning and organizing, there were no more reasons to keep the poor man from leaving, and he sure must have been as tired as she was, so she let him go.

She would wait a little longer before going up, just enough time until Luke fell asleep. She wasn't in the mood for being insulted again.

As she sat in the lonely dark diner, she wasn't counting on the fantaboulicious smell that suddenly emanated from the floor above.

And although she was trying to take the high road and ignore it, her stupid digestive system was yelling: GO!

And if that wasn't enough torture, she could distinctively smell the divine aroma of Mr. Coffee himself.

She was done with the teasing.

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"Awright, awright! I'm here…" Lorelai said as she entered the small apartment.

"Hey, I made us dinner," Luke said calmly as he set the last plate down on the table.

He was acting as if nothing had happened before.

"Uh-huh…" she answered, a little surprised by his nonchalant behavior.

"I picked up some movies that I thought you'd like…" He tried to keep it cool, even though this was one of the rare occasions that he was going to apologize to a woman; the last time being Kate in kindergarten when he pulled her braids. "They're on the coffee table…"

She stared at him, completely surprised. "K', you must be an alien inhabiting my friend's body. I can see why you picked his body since he's so annoyingly healthy and will live to be a hundred…I even told him last week that someday, his unhealthy healthiness would actually bring him trouble…but…would you be so kind as to return him?" She smiled at his obvious annoyance and moved to the living room.

"Sleepless in Seattle…Addicted to love…When Harry met Sally…" she read the movie titles out loud. "Luke, you sure you got the right bag? I mean, didn't you, maybe, swap with a girl's bag?"

He blushed furiously, even as he was trying to hide it.

She continued, "cuz these all look like chick flicks! And, unless you have a really big secret to tell me, these are not your type…" She tried to hide the smile that was surely lighting up her face.

"Lorelai…" he said in a censuring voice. "I have no big secrets," he said seriously.

"Oh, that's no fun…" She faked disappointment.

"What I'm trying to say is…I did…all this," he came closer to her. "Cuz I wanted to apologize for…ya know…earlier…" He finished sincerely.

"Yeah, I figured." She smiled broadly, "But I wanted to hear it from you."

"Of course." Why couldn't she just understand and leave him alone, when she had the option of humiliating her friend by making him try to verbalize his apology?

"Oh, let's have dinner while watching the movies!" she said as she grabbed her plate and served a delicious looking/smelling food and brought it to the coffee table.

"Oh, yummy, yummy on my tummy!" she chanted as she started eating the homemade meal.

Luke could only stare at her, relieved that they were friends again and that she seemed to be enjoying herself.

"Hey, lumber boy, aren't you coming?" she asked with her mouth full of food.

He only nodded.

Apparently amnesia didn't affect the 'crap memory' of the brain, because Lorelai not only seemed to have watched those movies before, but she also recited the lines...which normally would have been more than enough to make Luke want to leave. But remembering made her so happy that he simply didn't have the heart to make any comments, and even let her re-watch the same parts over and over to make sure she truly remembered them all.

They laughed, ate pie and ice-cream; well Lorelai ate the pie and the ice-cream--Luke only complained how unhealthy that was and how she would die of heart disease at a young age.

The two bantered until their stupid fight was completely forgotten.

Although Lorelai definitely was more sleep resistant than Luke, she soon followed Luke to marvelous dreamland by the second time 'Sleepless in Seattle' played.

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**Thank you for reading this!**

**TBC?**


End file.
